Lady Aces Drops 3-2 Match To Southern Illinois
In Saturday’s home finale, the University of Evansville volleyball team lost a hard-fought 3-2 match to Southern Illinois at Meeks Family Fieldhouse.
Melanie Feliciano led the Purple Aces (16-11, 7-9 MVC) with 21 kills while Rachel Tam had 17 and Alondra Vazquez posted 15. Allana McInnis had 52 assists on the night while Gabriela Macedo added 33 digs. She is just one behind the single-season Evansville record with two regular season matches remaining. Tam and Feliciano each set career marks with 23 and 21 digs, respectively while Vazquez was one off of her career mark with 24 in the contest.
At the completion of the match, the Aces recognized seniors Patricia Joseph, Gabriela Macedo and Rachel Tam in Senior Night festivities.
Southern Illinois (14-17, 6-11 MVC) was led by a 15-kill effort from Rachel Maguire.
Alondra Vazquez gave Evansville its first lead of the set with a kill at 4-3. Another kill saw her extend the lead to 6-4. Southern Illinois scored four in a row to go up 8-6. They held the lead until a Melanie Feliciano kill tied it before Vazquez put UE in front at 16-15. Once again, the Salukis would not let the Aces open up an advantage as they posted the next four before going up 24-20. Three consecutive Feliciano kills got the Aces back within one, but the final point went to SIU and they took the early 1-0 lead with a 25-23 win.
Evansville took a 3-2 lead in the second frame and worked to extend it in the middle of the set. A pair of Feliciano kills made it a 9-7 game before her 13th of the night pushed the Aces advantage out to 13-9. The Aces continued to roll when a Cecilia Thon service ace stretched the lead out even further to 18-12. From there, UE would cruise to the win by a 25-19 final.
In the third game, the Aces looked like they were going to take control after scoring four of the first five points, but the Salukis had other ideas. A 5-1 run gave them a 7-5 lead as Katy Kluge posted a pair of aces. Hannah Watkins notched a kill that put the advantage back in UE’s hands at 11-10. From there, both teams would battle for each point. The next time either squad would post a lead of more than one point came when Southern Illinois took a 22-20 lead. Evansville got those two points right back thanks to a pair of SIU errors before Feliciano gave the lead back to the Aces with kill #17. Tam would put the finishing touch on the set as her 12th kill clinched a 25-23 win and a 2-1 Aces lead.
Southern Illinois grabbed a 4-2 lead before a Macedo ace and a double block from Tam and Watkins put UE in front at 5-4. Evansville went up by three at 11-8 before Southern Illinois came back to tie it at 14-14 before going up 23-19. Watkins and Tam combined for a block before a Vazquez kill cut the deficit in half. The Salukis countered to score the final two tallies and force the deciding set.
After the Aces took a 2-1 edge to begin the 5th set, SIU scored the next five to go up 6-2. They eventually led by a 9-4 tally. Facing the deficit, Evansville regrouped to score three in a row, but the deficit was too much with SIU clinching the match with a 15-10 victory.
Regular season action comes to an end with the Aces traveling to Bradley on Friday before facing Illinois State next Saturday in the final contest of the regular season.
