Aces drop Saturday match at Southern Illinois
CARBONDALE, Ill. – Facing the second-place team in the Missouri Valley Conference, the University of Evansville volleyball team put up a valiant effort but dropped a 3-0 final on Saturday evening.
Mildrelis Rodriguez and Cathy Schreiber were the top offensive performers for the Purple Aces (4-18, 0-9 MVC) notching 11 and 7 kills, respectively. Jelena Merseli had 17 assists while Olivia Goldstein finished the night with 10 digs.
Southern Illinois (16-7, 7-2 MVC) spread the ball around as four players notched six or more kills. Abby Barrow had the top tally with 8. Mariana Pilon had the top dig total of the night with 15. The Salukis opened the first game scoring the first three points and utilized a late run to earn a 25-14 win. Evansville kept it close at 15-10, but SIU battled back to finish the set on a 10-4 run.
Evansville put its best foot forward in the second game, battling the Salukis in the early going to tie it up at 8-8. The Salukis had the upper hand in the middle portion of the game, leading by seven at 22-15. The Aces never gave up as Olivia Goldstein had a pair of service aces in a 5-0 run that got her team with a pair at 22-20. UE cut the gap to one at 24-23, but a Ginger Perinar kill clinched the set for SIU at 25-23.
In the third frame, the Aces faced a 7-2 hole, but kept fighting to cut the deficit to three at 18-15 as part of a 5-1 run. That is as close as the Aces would get as they fell by a final of 25-18.
Beginning on Friday, the Aces make their way through the state of Iowa they travel to UNI for a Friday evening match before heading to Drake on Saturday.
