Aces have just three matches remaining
Just three more matches remain in the 2016 campaign as the Purple Aces return home for all three. One is on tap for this weekend as the Aces welcome Southern Illinois to the Carson Center on Friday evening.
Trips to Indiana State and Illinois State rounded completed UE’s road slate last weekend. Despite dropping both matches, the squad competed to the end
Sophomore Mildrelis Rodriguez stands at 1,074 attempts on the season and officially moved into the top ten on the UE single season list. Her tally is currently 8th. Genesis Miranda set the single-season mark last year with 1,435. Two weeks ago, Rodriguez led the Purple Aces to their first conference win of the season and came close to making it 2-0 in a hard-fought match against Loyola. Rodriguez notched a career-high 23 kills in a 5-set victory over Bradley on Friday while hitting .311. She also led all players with an impressive 19 digs. She followed that up with 15 more kills versus the Ramblers and 10 digs.
On her way to moving up the charts to 7th place in the MVC with 6.40 assists per set, Jelena Merseli has had a strong roll. She has notched double digit assists in 12 of the last 13 matches. She has posted a total of 634 assists this year. In the Oct. 28 win over Bradley, Merseli set her career mark with 62 helpers.
Last season, Rocio Fortuny led the Purple Aces with 100 total blocks. That tally looks to be attainable to a pair of Evansville players this season. With three matches remaining, juniors Erlicia Griffith and Cathy Schreiber stand with 91 and 89, respectively.
Southern Illinois comes to the Carson Center on Friday in a battle for the top spot in the MVC. The Salukis are 20-9 overall and 11-4 in the league. Missouri State sits atop the league standings with a 12-2 mark. Pacing the Salukis is the duo of Alex Rosignol and Kolby Meeks, who rank 3rd and 4th in the MVC in hitting percentage, respectively. Meg Viggars runs the offense and is 8th in the Valley with 6.30 assists per set.
