Sept. 23, 2009

Box Score | Photo Gallery

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois University Edwardsville volleyball team was the star attraction for the grand opening of the new addition to the Student Fitness Center.

Evansville, however, walked away with a four-set victory over the Cougars 25-21, 25-19, 14-25, 25-17 in front of a raucous crowd of 816.

"It was a great night for the home opener," said SIUE Coach Todd Gober.

SIUE, 1-15, picked up 11 kills each from Sydney Winslow and Jessica Hemann. Both teams struggled with their play as Evansville committed 29 attack errors while SIUE picked up 30.

"Hitting errors hurt us tonight," admitted Gober.

SIUE and Evansville were tied 20-20 in set one only to have Evansville's Brooke Maher reel off four straight to help put the set away.

Evansville used a pair of short runs in the second set to grab as much as a seven-point lead before Ginta Gabruseva recorded a kill on set point. Gabruseva led all players with 21 kills.

SIUE turned the tables in the third set with a easy victory. The Cougars hit .320 in the set led by four kills from Hemann.

"We played under control and smart," said Gober.

Evansville trailed 12-11 in the fourth set and then made a 10-2 run on the Cougars off the serving of Ellen Sawin and Hannah Wilson.

Evansville hit .138 for the match while the Cougars finished up with a .105 hitting percentage.

-siue cougars-