It is another busy weekend for the University of Evansville volleyball team as they will play three matches in four days for the second time this season. UE welcomes Southern Illinois and Missouri State to Meeks Family Fieldhouse on Friday and Saturday before making their way to Cedar Falls, Iowa for a Monday night match at UNI; all three contests begin at 7 p.m.
Over the weekend, the Aces fell in a pair of conference matches at Illinois State and Bradley; highlighting the contest against the Braves were a 21-kill performance by Rachel Tam and a career-high of 19 digs from Alondra Vazquez.
Junior Rachel Tam added 21 kills to her season tally and starts play this weekend with a total of 302, ranking 5th in the nation. Her 325.5 points in 2018 is sixth in the NCAA while her 736 attempts is 19th. Tam is second in the MVC with her season average of 4.38 kills/game. In the first five MVC matches, Tam has notched 4.06 kills per set including a total of 22 against Loyola and 21 at Bradley. Her 302 kills is 50 more than anyone else in the MVC.
Alondra Vazquez has been making a solid contribution since debuting on September 11 against Tennessee State and has started to excel on the defensive end. Those efforts culminated in her recording 19 digs at Bradley on Sept. 29; she has had three or more digs in each of her nine matches.
Through the opening five MVC matches, Mildrelis Rodriguez continued to help UE in many different ways; through five MVC contests, her 2.78 kills and 2.94 digs are both second on the team.
Friday’s opponent will be Southern Illinois, who begins the weekend with a 4-13 mark and is 0-4 in Valley play. The Salukis are led by Maggie Nedoma’s 3.54 kills per set with Alayna Martin sitting with 7.84 assists/game.
UE plays host to Missouri State on Saturday evening with the Bears starting play this week with a mark of 8-9 and 1-3 in the league. Amelia Flynn paces the team with 2.95 kills per set while Chloe Rear has posted 8.00 assists/set.
UNI has played a tough schedule so far, but it has paid off with the Panthers defeating a pair of top 15 squads while going 10-6 overall and a perfect 4-0 in the MVC. The Panthers defeated #13 Creighton and #5 Kentucky in their season-opening tournament. Karlie Taylor sits atop the MVC with 4.58 kills per set while Rachel Koop is tops in the league with 11.53 assists.
