UE took on Colorado State and Arizona State
 WACO, Texas – Friday’s opening day at the Baylor Invitational saw the University of Evansville volleyball team square off against Colorado State and Arizona State. Playing without Alondra Vazquez and Melanie Feliciano, the Purple Aces put up a fight in both contests before falling by finals of 3-0. UE completes the trip on Saturday with a 7 p.m. contest at #15 Baylor.
 Match 1 – Colorado State 3, UE 0
Taking on a strong Colorado State squad, the Purple Aces fell by a 3-0 final to open the Baylor Invitational on Friday morning. Giulia Cardona led the way with 14 kills while totaling six digs. Laura Ruiz paced the team with 7 digs and a pair of service aces. Kora Ruff recorded 24 assists. Chloe Bongrager and Emilee Scheumann finished with five kills apiece.
 Set 1- CSU 25, UE 15
Seven early ties led to a 7-7 score to open the match. Both teams held early leads, including an ace by Laura Ruiz and a kill from Chloe Bontrager that put UE up 3-2. The tides would turn when a 6-0 run saw the Rams go up 13-7.
Kills by Kate Tsironis and Bontrager put a stop to the rally, but Colorado State continued to add to its lead, adding the third service ace of the game to extend the lead to 17-9. From there, CSU would take a 1-0 lead thanks to a 25-15 victory.
Set 2 – CSU 25, UE 2
Giulia Cardona picked up two early kills to give UE a 3-0 lead before two more extended the lead to 6-2. The Rams chipped away at the lead and would tie the set at 10-10 following back-to-back kills from Annie Sullivan. Evansville countered with a run of its own, scoring three in a row to retake the lead. Scheumann and Tsironis had kills to put the Aces back on top.
With UE up 14-11, Colorado State stormed back with five in a row to go up 16-14. Evansville came back to tie it at 17-17 on a service ace from Laura Ruiz and the teams continued to battle, leading to a 20-20 score. That is when CSU made its run, recording five of the final six tallies to finish with a 25-21 win and go up 2-0.
Set 3 – CSU 25, UE 13
Looking to complete the opener with a 3-0 win, Colorado State reeled off the first six points before extending the lead to 8-1. Evansville closed the deficit as few as five points, but the Rams fended off the challenge and picked up game three by a 25-13 final to sweep the match.
Match 2 – Arizona State 3, UE 0
Giulia Cardona and Emilee Scheumann recorded 12 and 8 kills, respectively, but a team hitting percentage of .419 saw Arizona State earn a 3-0 victory in the second contest in Waco. Maddie Hawkins paced UE with four digs while Kora Ruff tallied 27 helpers.
Set 1 – ASU 25, UE 15
Two quick kills from Cardona saw UE go up 3-1 before the Sun Devils took their first lead of the match at 5-2. Evansville was able to cut its deficit to just one at 8-7 when Scheumann racked up another kill, but the big ASU run came as they held a 12-9 lead.
Five in a row pushed the lead to 17-9 and following a UE point, ASU added five more to their total to go up 22-10. Evansville closed in the final moments, but it was the Sun Devils finishing with the 25-15 nod to take a 1-0 edge.
Set 2 – ASU 25, UE 17
Once again, it was the Aces picking up an early lead, using a Madisyn Steele kill to pace the Sun Devils by a score of 3-1. After ASU took its first edge at 4-3, Steele picked up her second kill to help UE retake the lead at 7-5. Arizona State used a 9-4 rally to go up 14-11 before a 6-0 stretch pushed the lead to 20-11.
Cardona added a late kill to cut the ASU advantage to seven points before the Sun Devils were able to complete the set with a 25-17 win.
Set 3 – ASU 25, UE 9
Arizona State utilized a fast start to open a 7-3 lead, however, UE kept it close when a Kora Ruff service ace made it a 2-point game at 9-7. Up 10-8, the Sun Devils quickly put things out of reach. After scoring 11 in a row to go up 21-8, ASU clinched he match with a 25-9 victory.
Â
