A road weekend of Missouri Valley Conference action awaits the Purple Aces volleyball team as they travel to Illinois State on Friday evening before heading to Terre Haute to face Indiana State on Saturday.
Evansville hit an accurate .248 in its 3-1 loss to Southern Illinois on Saturday. Led by Genesis Miranda’s final tally of .381, the Aces were extremely efficient in the loss. It was the highest percentage the Aces hit in a 4-set loss since Sept. 3, 2011, when UE hit .270 in a 3-1 loss to Valparaiso.
In two of the last five conference matches, Genesis Miranda has notched efforts of 20+ kills, her first two times doing so against MVC foes. She is beginning to show great maturity over the last few weeks and it has resulted in UE being more competitive against strong competition. In her first 19 MVC matches, Miranda hit .134, but since then, the last five matches have seen her hit .211 with 4.11 kills per set.
Led by Stephanie Cerino’s six block assists against the Salukis, Evansville finished with a total of 9 team blocks. UE was credited with 16 block assists in the match, marking the 10th time the team has notched between 10 and 20 block assists. In those 10 matches, UE is 3-7.
The Redbirds enter Friday’s tilt with a mark of 13-6 and 3-3 in conference play. That have performed exceptionally well on their home floor, winning all five matches and are also a stellar 5-1 in neutral matchups. After starting MVC play with losses at Missouri State and Wichita State, Illinois State has won three out of four, including a 3-0 triumph over Bradley last time out. Senior Ashley Rosch is third in the Valley with 3.75 kills per match while their defensive star has been Courtney Pence, who is second in the league with 4.91 digs/set, behind only Kim Deprez.
Indiana State goes into the weekend with a mark of 13-8 and 2-4 in the league. The Sycamores opened MVC action with losses in their first two matches on the road at MSU and WSU. Since then, they have gone 2-2 with victories over UNI and Bradley. ISU has a strong 1-2 punch when it comes to serving as Carly Wishlow and Bree Spangler are third and fourth in the MVC in that department.
