EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – SIUE closed out its non-conference season Tuesday with a loss, falling to Evansville 25-22, 30-28, 25-23.

The Cougars, 4-7, now have a couple of days to prepare for their first Ohio Valley Conference matchup of the season. SIUE plays host to UT Martin Friday at 7 p.m. Southeast Missouri comes to the Vadalabene Center Saturday at 2 p.m.

"The plate is clean now. We all get to go in zero-zero. That's exciting. I'm ready to talk about conference and what we can do to win each conference match and each point within the match. I think we have to break it down one point at a time," said SIUE Head Coach Leah Johnson.

Friday's match was much closer than the three-set victory would indicate. The two teams battled for extra points in the second set before Evansville prevailed. There were four lead changes and 13 tie scores in the second set. The Purple Aces, 5-9, would hold on in set three as a kill by Hannah Wilson ended the match. There were three lead changes in the final set.

"I thought it was a competitive match on both sides. There were a lot of long rallies and a lot of great defensive plays," Johnson said.

The Cougars couldn't get on track offensively and finished with 30 attack errors. Evansville also struggled on offense at times with 21 attack errors.

"It was a game of errors. We need to be sharper, a little more deliberate with our offense. Our offensive game has to improve," Johnson said. "At the end of the day we have to terminate the ball and hit at a higher efficiency."

Emma Anderson led SIUE's offense with 11 kills. Brooke Smith finished with nine while Kristen Torre added eight.

Stephanie Cerino led Evansville with 11 kills. The Purple Aces hit .155 for the match.