U OF E Volleyball Ready For Trip Through Illinois
Evansville faces Loyola and Bradley this weekend
It is back to the road for the Purple Aces volleyball team as they travel through the state of Illinois. The road stretch begins on Friday at Loyola before the University of Evansville heads to Peoria to take on Bradley. Both matches will be televised live on The Valley on ESPN3.
Missouri Valley Conference play began on Friday as the Aces had three matches in four days. Evansville started conference play off with a hard-fought match against Drake that went five sets before the Bulldogs held on for the late win. UE also faced UNI and Wichita State. Last Friday’s match against Drake was an exciting night as the teams battled to five sets. Several Aces set career marks in various categories including Rocio Fortuny, Jelena Merseli and Olivia Goldstein.
Evansville’s top offensive weapon this season has been Mildrelis Rodriguez, who leads the team with 2.88 kills per set. She set career marks with 20 kills and 61 attempts against Jacksonville State two weeks ago. That weekend, she posted 3.53 kills/set while hitting .240. In the match against Drake, Rodriguez notched 16 kills in 58 attempts. She has also been the Aces’ top offensive player in league play with 2.36 kills per frame.
Just behind Rodriguez on the offensive side has been Rocio Fortuny. In the conference opener against the Bulldogs, Fortuny recorded a career-best 17 kills in 51 tries. She also set her mark with 13 digs. She has notched 105 kills on the season, an average of 2.10 per set. Fortuny has also chipped in 0.44 blocks per game.
Libero Olivia Goldstein continues to settle into the position, leading the way for the team with 189 digs, an average of 3.20 per set. Goldstein posted a career-best 22 against Drake and has had at least 12 digs in seven of the last eight matches.
Loyola comes into the weekend with a 6-9 record and split their opening weekend of conference play. After dropping a 3-1 decision at Illinois State, the Ramblers quickly regrouped for a 3-2 win the next night at Indiana State in Terre Haute. The highlight of the season so far was a 3-0 showing in the Deacon Classic in the first weekend of September when Loyola topped the College of Charleston, Davidson and Wake Forest. Senior Morgan Reardon ranks fifth in the league with 3.37 kills per set.
Bradley enters play with a mark of 5-8 after falling in their first two conference matches last weekend against the Sycamores and Redbirds. The Braves feature a solid offensive tandem as Erica Haslage is second in the MVC with 3.96 kills while Kelsey Cave is the #3 hitter in the league, checking in at .378.
