Aces play two matches on Saturday
 It was an excellent start to the 2018 season for the University of Evansville volleyball team as the Purple Aces gave it all they had in a 3-2 win over Tennessee Tech on Friday in the Leatherneck Invitational.
“This was a great TEAM win,†exclaimed UE head coach Manolo Concepcion.
“Although we went from less to more, I was impressed with our ability to sustain our competitiveness and toughness consistently throughout the match. Our goal now is to lower unforced errors while continuing to emphasize on our serve and pass.â€
A career day by junior Rachel Tam saw her finish with a career-best 28 kills in 47 attempts as she hit .489 on the day. Mildrelis Rodriguez added 16 kills and 9 digs. In her first match, freshman Cecilia Thon recorded 26 assists with sophomore Allana McInnis just behind her with 21. Senior Gabriela dos Santos added a career-high 21 digs, passing her previous mark of 21 set against Western Illinois last season.
Tennessee Tech opened game one by taking a 3-0 lead and held off a UE rally to earn a 25-18 win and take a 1-0 lead in the match. Evansville got within a point on two occasions, but the Golden Eagles slowly pulled away for the win.
In game two, TTU had the edge early in the match, but the Aces were able to rally late in the set. The Golden Eagles picked up a 10-6 advantage and continued to hold the 4-point lead at 19-15. From that point, the Aces outscored the opposition by a 10-4 margin to knot the match at 1-1 with a 25-23 win. Back-to-back Tam kills saw UE take a 21-20 lead before a pair of TTU errors pushed the Aces to the win.
The Golden Eagles were primed to retake the match lead in the third frame, but Evansville had other ideas. TTU never gave up the lead and looked to be in good position, up 21-17. UE once again had a rally on their mind and did just that. A Kerra Cornist kill was part of a 4-0 run that tied the game up at 21-21. The next few points went back and forth with UE having a chance to earn the set when they took a 24-23 lead.
When the match went into extra points, the Purple Aces gave themselves the chance to win by never relinquishing the lead. Their work paid off as Cornist and Tam posted consecutive tallies to give Evansville a 2-1 lead thanks to a 30-28 victory.
UE battled to the end in the fourth stanza as 15 ties led to a 23-23 score. Neither team led by more than three points in the competitive contest. Tennessee Tech used a service ace by Susie Jeziorowski to seal the final two points and force a deciding fifth set.
Gabriela dos Santos notched a service ace while Tam added a kill to push UE to a 5-1 advantage in the set. The Golden Eagles got within two points at 12-10 before the Aces finished in style. Mildrelis Rodriguez had a kill and a service ace before Tam added her 28th kill of the day to give the Aces the 15-10 win while clinching the match, 3-2.
