Feliciano lifts Aces volleyball past Purdue Fort Wayne

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Four matches to take place on Saturday

 

In the first home match of her career, University of Evansville freshman Melanie Feliciano finished three kills shy of the program record as the Purple Aces volleyball team took down Purdue Fort Wayne by a 3-1 final on Friday night inside Meeks Family Fieldhouse in the Dunn Hospitality Tournament.

“Tonight was a great win for us, I am so happy for the girls,” Aces coach Fernando Morales said.  “They were excited and anxious to play at home in front of our crowd.  We were definitely able to feed off the energy in the gym.”

“Our team was really good at adjusting to what we were telling them on the bench.  All of the hustle plays went our way and really helped us to get the win.”

Feliciano tallied 29 kills in 59 tries, hitting .424.  She added 16 digs in the winning effort.  Rachel Tam and Alondra Vazquez posted 14 kills apiece.  Four Aces (3-2) notched double digit digs, led by Feliciano’s total.  Gabriela Macedo had 15, Vazquez notched 14 and Tam finished the night with ten.  Allana McInnis anchored the offense with 56 assists while Hannah Watkins had five block assists and one solo.

“Melanie keeps getting better every game, she amazes me,” Morales added.  “I was interested to see how she would react to the home pressure and she did very well.”

Evansville got off to a quick start in game one, taking a 5-1 lead on the strength of a pair of Melanie Feliciano kills.  Purdue Fort Wayne fought back to take their first lead at 11-10, but the Aces rallied back with three in a row to go up 13-11.  The lead pushed back out to four points (17-13) before PFW made another run, tying it back up at 23-23.  With the scored tied at 24-all, Hannah Watkins and Feliciano posted a block before Alondra Vazquez had the clinching kill in a 26-24 win.

Vazquez posted a kill early in the second set to push UE out to a 5-2 advantage.  Gabriela Macedo added a service ace to extend the lead to 9-3 before Feliciano’s 10th kill of the night gave Evansville the 14-7 lead.  Purdue Fort Wayne got within four tallies at 17-13, but UE proved to be too much.  A Tam kill ended the PFW streak before Macedo’s second ace of the set helped UE clinch the second set by a 25-15 final.

Purdue Fort Wayne had an early 7-6 lead before the Aces found their groove.  Consecutive Vazquez kills turned the deficit into an 8-7 advantage.  Laura Ruiz added an ace that pushed UE’s lead to 12-9.  The Mastodons never gave up and fought back to tie it at 19-19 before retaking a 22-20 lead.  Feliciano got UE back on the board with her 19th kill, but PFW grabbed the set with a 25-22 decision.

Feliciano registered UE’s first three points, but it was the Mastodons gaining an 8-5 lead.  The Aces used another Feliciano kill to grab an 11-10 advantage, but PFW took advantage of a pair of Evansville errors to go up 15-13.  UE showed its fight and used a timely ace by Cecilia Thon to go back on top at 20-18.  A block assist from Watkins and Allana McInnis extended the lead to three and from there, the Aces clinched the match on the strength of a 25-22 victory.

In Friday’s opening match, Middle Tennessee State rallied for a 3-1 win over Eastern Illinois.  Tomorrow, there are four matches on tap.  Purdue Fort Wayne and Eastern Illinois open up at 10 a.m. before UE faces Middle Tennessee State at 12:30 p.m.  At 3:30, PFW and MTSU square off before Evansville and EIU complete the tournament at 6 p.m.