Box Score
The University of Evansville volleyball team suffered its first loss of the season in the final game of the Michigan State Showcase Saturday night. The Aces lost to undefeated host Michigan State 10-25, 16-25, 18-25.
“During the first game I think we were intimidated, and it showed in how we played,” said head coach Mike Swan. “But I think we did a really good job settling down for the second and third set. Offensively, Michigan State is a much bigger team than we are, so it was difficult for us to hit around their blockers.”
Both teams came into the game with undefeated season and tournament records. With the win, Michigan State improves to 3-0, while Evansville moves to 2-1. Senior Emily Wandersee and junior Brooke Maher were each named to the All-Tournament team. Wandersee recorded 31 kills on the weekend while Maher put up 24 of her own.
“Overall we feel really good with the tournament, especially coming up here and getting two sweeps right off the bat,” said Swan. “We definitely are coming back with a lot of things to build on, which is good.”
The Spartans came out on top early, taking a 3-0 lead from the gates. A kill by Wandersee put Evansville on the board, but the MSU offense quickly regained control of the game and ran the score to a 12-4 Spartan lead. Junior
Kaisi Nixon delivered a kill that had potential to ignite an Aces' rally, but the Spartans answered back with and 9-4 run that would put them ahead 21-8. Maher and Wandersee each managed to put up one more kill each, but it wouldn’t be enough as the Spartans took game one with a final score of 25-10.
The Aces found themselves trailing 1-4 to start the second set. A kill by Wandersee followed by back-to-back kills by sophomore Hannah Wilson brought the Aces back in the game and tied the score at 4-4. The Aces kept the game close until three consecutive UE attack errors gave MSU an 11-8 advantage. The MSU offense proved to be too much as the Spartans capitalized on the miscues and increased their lead to 22-14. Two kills by Nixon kept the Aces alive, but the Spartans sealed the victory with a 25-16 win.
Set three opened with a 2-0 Aces lead before the Spartans evened it up at 2-2. The Aces rallied back to take an 8-4 lead before MSU offense once again fought back to tie the game at 10-10. As each team battled for the offensive advantage, a block by Sawin and Wandersee brought UE within one point of the Spartans at 16-17. Despite the Aces’ effort, MSU pulled away with a 7-2 run to secure the win with a final score of 25-18.
The Aces will return to action next weekend when they travel to Troy, Alabama to take on McNeese State, Western Illinois and host Troy in the Troy Spiketacular Tournament. UE’s first match is set for Saturday at 10:00 a.m.
