Volleyball set for weekend trip to MSU and SIU

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Aces look for conference road wins

 The University of Evansville volleyball team begins the month of November on the road, heading to Missouri State for a showdown on Friday night before making their way to Carbondale, Ill. to take on Southern Illinois on Saturday.  Both matches will begin at 7 p.m.

Taking on two of the top teams in the MVC, the Aces took both Bradley and Illinois State to five sets in a pair of home matches last weekend.  Mildrelis Rodriguez set her career mark with 29 kills in 85 attempts against the Braves while Alondra Vazquez was the difference-maker on Saturday, notching 20 kills against the Redbirds.

UE’s top player over the weekend was senior Mildrelis Rodriguez, who finished with 4.60 kills and 3.60 digs per set.  Rodriguez was honored on Friday for recording the 1,000th kill and dig of her career and she responded with her top collegiate performance.  She set her career mark with 29 kills while also tallying 21 digs, two service aces, two block assists and a solo block; Rodriguez had another nice outing on Saturday against Illinois State, totaling 17 kills, 15 digs and three aces.

In the home match against Bradley, Olivia Goldstein set her career mark with 30 digs; she leads the Purple Aces with 3.29 digs per set and has had 10 or more in six of the last eight outings.  Goldstein has posted 20 or more digs in four matches in 2018.

Senior Rocio Fortuny looks to finish her career on a high note and took a big step towards doing that in the last two matches.  She had her best 2-game stretch since the second weekend of the season as she recorded 19 kills in matches against Bradley and Illinois State.  Fortuny finished with 9 kills against the Braves before notching 10 on Saturday.

Missouri State starts this weekend with a 13-12 record while going 6-6 in their first 12 league contests.  Defensively, Makina Wratten leads the Valley with 1.19 blocks per set.  The offense for the Bears is paced by Amelia Flynn, who checks in with 3.20 kills per game.

Southern Illinois stands with a 4-21 mark and have lost their opening 12 MVC matches.  Maggie Nedoma leads the Salukis with 3.41 kills per set while Alayna Martin currently averages 7.39 assists per game.

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