EVANSVILLE, Ind. – UIndy volleyball fell in three sets to GLVC East foe Southern Indiana (25-20, 25-21, 25-17) Friday night.

The Greyhounds entered a game ahead of the Eagles in the GLVC's East Division standings, but now sits 5-5 in-conference and 9-14 overall. USI (15-7, 5-5) holds an advantage in head-to-head over the Hounds with Friday night's win.

"We didn't play our best tonight," Head Coach Jason Reed lamented, following the defeat. "This was a big match for us in the conference race and we just didn't play hard enough as a team or execute well enough."

The match went back-and-forth right out of the gate, but the Eagles used an 8-0 run to turn a 14-12 deficit into a six-point lead. They would go on to win the set, 25-20, taking a 1-0 match lead.

USI used a similar rat the start of the second set, sprinting out to a 9-5 lead and forcing an early timeout out of Reed. The Hounds would battle back, however, pulling even at 20-20 after freshman Katie Voelz landed a kill. But the hosts prevailed, 25-21, taking a solid 2-0 lead.

A 5-0 spurt right out of the intermission gave the Eagles an early lead they wouldn't relinquish in the third and final set.

USI out-hit UIndy .231 to .106, and finished with 60 digs to the Hounds' 52. UIndy finished with nine blocks to USI's eight.  

Junior Becca Lira paced UIndy with 10 kills and 11 digs, and sophomore Kacee Salyers followed with eight kills. Freshman Maggie Gibson recorded 27 assists and ten digs.

Junior Shelby Ruffner racked up 6 blocks, while Lira and Gibson had three each.

UIndy has another crucial GLVC East match Saturday against Bellarmine. The Greyhounds and Knights meet at 3 p.m. ET tomorrow in Louisville, Ky.

NOTES
- UIndy is 36-22 all-time against Southern Indiana since the teams first met in 1980. Friday's loss snapped UIndy's seven-match winning streak over the Eagles.