PEORIA, Ill. -- The Bradley volleyball team sided out 47 percent of the time and couldn't keep pace with Evansville, falling to the Purple Aces 25-21, 25-18, 25-17 in the Missouri Valley Conference opener for both squads Friday at Renaissance Coliseum.  Sophomore Amy Angelos (Waukegan, Ill./Waukegan) paced the Braves with nine kills.

Evansville's Brooke Maher led the Aces (11-3 overall, 1-0 MVC) attack with match highs of 13 kills and 14 digs and UE outblocked BU 9-3 to control play at the net.  Bradley (6-4 overall, 0-1 MVC) hit .134 against the UE defense, while Evansville improved its hitting percentage in each frame and finished with a .288 attack percentage.

The Purple Aces took control of the opening set with an early 7-1 run and eventually built a 16-10 lead.  Bradley pulled within three points on seven occasions down the stretch, but Evansville held off BU's rally attempt and took the opening set 25-21.  Sophomore Alise Tupuritis (Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West) collected six of her eight kills to highlight the first set for the Braves.

Bradley trailed 11-10 in the second set, when UE used a five-point spurt to take a 16-10 advantage.  The Purple Aces stretched to lead to as many seven points (23-16) before back-to-back kills by Angelos pulled the Braves within five at 23-18.  Ashley Ring answered with a kill, however, and teamed with Kaisi Nixon for a block to close out a 25-18 Evansville victory.

The Purple Aces led from wire-to-wire in the third set and completed the sweep with a 25-17 win.  Maher highlighted a 7-0 Evansville run with four kills to give UE a 12-5 lead.  The Braves got back within four points (13-9) thanks in part to consecutive Angelos kills, but a Maher ace and three BU errors fueled a five-point Evansville spurt which gave the Aces a nine-point edge at 18-9.  UE hit .364 in the third set and collected four of its nine blocks on the night in the final set.

Angelos hit .412 and finished with a team-best nine kills and two blocks, while Tupuritis collected eight kills.  Junior Madelyn Ervin (Lewis Center, Ohio/Olentangy) was the only other BU player with more than five kills, finishing with six.  Freshman setter Madison Kamp (Orland Park, Ill./Chicago Christian) had 32 assists and 12 digs in the loss. 

Senior Rachelle Dejean (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) came off the bench to tally five digs and moved into eighth on the BU career digs chart.  Dejean (1,167 digs) passed Amelie Rodridgue (1,164 digs) for eighth on Bradley's career digs list and enters Saturday's home match against Southern Illinois needing nine digs to move into seventh in school history.

Evansville had four players with six or more kills, paced by Maher's match-high 13 kills.  Maher, Nixon and Ring combined for 28 of the Purple Aces' 42 kills and the trio boasted a combined .348 attack percentage. 

Bradley returns to action Saturday, hosting Southern Illinois at 7 p.m. at Renaissance Coliseum.