University of Evansville sophomore Genesis Miranda set the Purple Aces single-season kills mark as UE fell to Indiana State by a 3-1 final on Friday night at the Carson Center.

Miranda posted a game-high 19 kills to lead UE (8-21, 2-13 MVC).  She now has 463 on the season, breaking Julie Groves’ mark of 454.

“I am excited for that, I did not expect to do that in my sophomore year,” Miranda said.  “It is special and that will motivate me to help our team take it to the next level in my junior year.

Stephanie Cerino had 12 kills on the night while Kim Deprez posted 20 digs.  Jelena Merseli had a team-best 24 assists.  Pacing the Indiana State (17-14, 6-10 MVC) offense was Cassandra Willis, who had 13 kills.  Kynedi Nalls and Melody Burdett registered 12 apiece.

Indiana State opened the night with a 25-17 win in the opening frame.  Carly Wishlow had four kills on five attempts.  With ISU up 8-7, they went on an 11-2 run and pulled away for the win.  Evansville got a little closer as Lorena Marquez did the serving in a 5-0 stretch, but the Sycamores hung on for the win.

Evansville got its revenge in the second game.  Trailing 11-10, UE scored nine of the next 11 points as Kim Deprez helped the Aces score four in a row as she notched an ace in the run.  Hanging on to a 23-17 lead, Mildrelis Rodriguez recorded the final two kills to lead UE to the win.

Early in the third game, Evansville had the hot hand, taking a 6-3 lead on a Gabriela Roman kill.  Indiana State responded as Kynedi Nalls had back-to-back kills to give them an 8-6 lead and cap off a 5-0 run.  They went on to lead by six points at 19-13 before the Aces stormed back.  Rodriguez did the serving and also notched a killas the Aces scored four in a row.  Later, they tied it up at 21-21.  With the score knotted at 22-22, the Sycamores scored the next two before a Wishlow tally gave them a 25-23 triumph.

The Aces rallied once again in the fourth frame.  Trailing 20-13 and later by a 22-16 tally, UE fought back.  Miranda notched a pair of kills in a run that saw the Aces get within one at 23-22.  Following two timeouts, the Sycamores were able to regroup and hang on for the 25-23 win to clinch the match.

Tomorrow, UE completes its home slate against Illinois State at 6 p.m.  Seniors Stephanie Cerino, Kim Deprez, Lorena Marquez, Tathianna Cordero and Gabriela Roman will be recognized before the match.

On Saturday at 1 p.m., the University of Evansville women’s basketball team will open up the regular season at Xavier.

The game, which is being played in honor of Lauren Hill, will be carried live on Fox Sports Ohio.

UE went 2-0 in its exhibition outings, including a 97-53 win over Berea last weekend as six players finished in double figures, led by Laura Friday, who hit 5 of her 6 3-pointers on her way to 15 points.  Kerri Gasper also scored 15 as she shot an accurate 70% (7/10) and hauled in five rebounds.  Newcomer Ashley Hawkins registered a double-double in the game, notching 11 points and 12 rebounds while also blocking a pair of shots.

“We are excited to begin our journey,” Aces head coach Oties Epps said.  “We feel comfortable with the work that we have put in up to this point and we look forward to the challenge of competing against Xavier.”

Saturday’s game will mark the first of three in a row on the road in Ohio; the Aces head to Miami Ohio on Monday before traveling to face Cleveland State on Wednesday, Nov. 18

It marks the first meeting against the Musketeers since the teams played together in the MCC.  The Aces look for their 4th opening-day victory in a row as they defeated Austin Peay at home by a 72-68 margin last season.  UE is on the road for its first six regular-season contests as they do not play at home until December 5.

Junior Sara Dickey set the single-season scoring mark last season with 602 tallies.  After scoring 546 as a freshman in 2013-14, Dickey has 1,148 career points and is just 79 points out of the top ten.  Should she follow up last year’s scoring pace, she would break the all-time program scoring mark in just three years.  Shelly Brand-Adlard is the all-time UE scoring leader with 1,713 points

The Aces have eight returning players including three seniors (Sara Dickey, sophomore guard Taloni Reese and junior forward Sasha Robinson). Additionally, the team brings back Peyton Langston, Kenyia Johnson, and senior guard Laura Friday.

UE has six newcomers on the roster this year (freshman forward Jordan Campbell, freshman guard Camille Coleman, freshman forward Kerri Gasper, freshman forward Tattenai Hall, freshman forward Erin Sinnott, and junior guard Camary Williams). The Aces will also benefit from having Aaliyah Gaines and junior forward Ashley Hawkins eligible after their redshirt seasons.

Xavier is coming off of an 18-15 campaign last season, which saw them win in 13 out of their 19 home contests.  They return their top two scorers from last year in Briana Glover and Raeshaun Gaffney.  Glover tallied 10.8 points per game while Gaffney finished the year at 10.4 PPG.

Riding a 5-game winning streak after its run to the 2015 CollegeInsider.com Championship, the University of Evansville men’s basketball team will begin the 2015-16 regular season with a home game against Southeast Missouri State on Sunday at 2 p.m. inside the Ford Center.

Evansville officially opens its 97th season of play on Sunday against SEMO.  In its previous 96 openers, UE has gone 64-32 while winning six of its last seven openers, the only loss in that span came in 2012 at Notre Dame.  The Aces return all five starters and nine players overall from last year’s team that won the CollegeInsider.com Tournament and finished the season with a 24-12 record.

This year, UE played just one exhibition contest as they took on Wabash on Nov. 7.  Evansville took the win by a 95-65 margin behind 20 points from D.J. Balentine.  Balentine was 9-of-17 from the floor and recorded a game-high 8 assists.  Adam Wing posted 17 points and hit an efficient 8 of his 10 shot attempts.  It was another double-double for Egidijus Mockevicius as he tallied 11 points and 12 rebounds, all of his boards came on the defensive end.  As a team, UE finished the game hitting 58.3% of its shots.

In the Missouri Valley Conference Preseason Poll, UE was picked to finish in second place behind only Wichita State.  It is tied for the highest pick in program history.  D.J. Balentine and Egidijus Mockevicius have each earned their share of preseason accolades with both earning a spot on the Preseason MVC All-Conference Team.

Balentine was named to the Lute Olson Award Watch List.  The award is given annually to the top player in the nation who is a sophomore or older.  Mockevicius was recognized on the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award Watch List, which is handed out to the top center in the nation.

Southeast Missouri State posted a 13-17 mark last season while going 7-9 in the Ohio Valley Conference on their way to an 8th place finish.  The Redhawks welcome new head coach Rick Ray to the program, Ray spent the last three seasons as the head coach at Mississippi State.   SEMO loses two of their top three scorers in Jarekious Bradley (16.2 PPG) and Nino Johnson (10.4 PPG), but return Antonius Cleveland.

Cleveland notched 10.8 points last year and shot 47.2% from the field, he was also third on the squad with 55 assists.  As a junior last season, Isiah Jones averaged 9.8 points and was one of the top 3-point shooters on the team, hitting 39.9%.  In their exhibition game, SEMO took down Missouri S&T by a final of 93-64, Trey Kellum and Marcus Wallace tied for the team lead with 15 points while Kellum was the top rebounder with nine.