EVANSVILLE, Ind. – SIUE volleyball made a strong push late but fell to Evansville in four sets at the opening day of the UE Tournament.

Evansville evened its season record to 4-4 with a 25-17, 25-18, 19-25, 25-23 victory over the Cougars, now 2-5.

Cori Harris, who recorded a double-double for the third time this season, led the Cougars with 12 kills and added 14 digs.

"She is disciplined, serving well, and passing well. She is playing a very good game right now," said SIUE Head Coach Leah Johnson.

Kristen Torre and Alicia Streetar followed with 11 and 10 kills, respectively. Streetar, a freshman outside hitter, was a force as she hit .556 for the match with no errors on 18 attacks.

"In sets three and four she really stepped up her game and became the go-to person," Johnson said of Streetar. "She was limiting errors and taking big swings. She was really in a good zone for us."

Evansville jumped out to a two-set lead behind Ashley Ring who picked up 10 of her match-leading 15 kills in the opening two sets.

Ring had seven kills in the first set alone when the Purple Aces opened the match with a .407 hitting percentage.

The Cougars, which had a season-best six service aces, would fight back in the third set when Harris collected five kills and Streetar was successful on all three of her attacks.

SIUE, which hit .206 as a team for the match, would make a stunning comeback in the fourth set. Down by eight points at 21-13, the Cougars went on a 10-2 run that evened the score 23-23. Back-to-back kills, however, by Eansville's Meaghan Holmes and Emma Roberson for the Aces would close out the match.

"The team really played fearlessly during that run," Johnson said. "We came up with some key defensive plays that we hadn't been making earlier in the match. We need to play that fearless and have that mindset of 'nothing to lose' from point one."

Two more matches remain in the UE Tournament for the Cougars. On Saturday, SIUE faces Valparaiso in a 10 a.m. match followed by a 3:30 p.m. meeting with Memphis.