EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The Drake Bulldogs volleyball team fell in a tightly contested three-set match at Evansville Saturday night.

Evansville (7-12, 2-6 MVC) captured tonight's match 25-22, 25-22 and 25-18 behind the strong play of Ashley Ring who smashed a match-high 17 kills and added 16 digs. Drake (2-17, 0-7 MVC) was paced by junior Amanda Platte (Mount Vernon, Iowa) who had nine kills along with four digs and two blocks. Freshman Tegan LaBerge (Maple Grove, Minn.) finished with eight digs and three blocks.

The Bulldogs controlled set one early as they forced the Purple Aces to burn both of their timeouts the last after going up 15-9. Drake extended its lead to 20-13 after a service ace by sophomore Rebecca Brown (Bentonville, Ark.) before Evansville ripped off seven straight points to tie the set at 20-20. After the Bulldogs used their final timeout, Evansville scored two consecutive points before Platte connected on a kill to cut the deficit to 22-21. A kill by Ring pushed the Aces lead to 23-21, but an attack error by Meaghan Holmes put the Bulldogs down by one again at 23-22. However, a kill by Ring and a block assist by Ring and Rachel Tenhoor gave Evansville the 25-22 win. The set featured six score ties and four lead changes.

Set two was another tightly contested frame that featured 10 score ties and three lead changes. The Purple Aces called the first timeout of the set trailing 5-4. Following the timeout the two teams traded points until Evansville used a 4-0 scoring run to take a 16-12 lead, which forced Drake to use its first timeout. A kill by Ring extended the Purple Aces lead to 20-14, but the Bulldogs slowly chipped away and tied the score at 22-22 with sophomore Katie Allen's (Mokena, Ill.) service ace. The rally fell just short as Evansville scored the final three points to win 25-22.

Evansville never trailed in set three as they closed the match out with a 25-18 win. However, the score was tied at 17-17 after an attack error by Ring, but Evansville went on to score seven of the final eight points the last on a kill by Ring.

Brown posted solid numbers across the scorebook for Drake finishing with a team-high 29 assists along with six digs, five kills, two blocks and one service ace. Allen tallied five kills and five blocks, while hitting .312.

Drake returns home next Friday, Oct. 18 when it hosts Indiana State with first serve set for 7 p.m.