UE Faces Sam Houston In Opening Round
 EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The Purple Aces are headed to the postseason for the first time as members of the Missouri Valley Conference, earning a bid to the Women’s National Invitational Volleyball Championship. UE opens the tournament on Thursday at 5 p.m. CT against Sam Houston on the campus of Chicago State University. Live coverage of the match will be on ESPN+.
 MVC Recognition
– A total of five UE players were recognized with postseason MVC awards last week
– Giulia Cardona picked up MVC Freshman of the Year honors while earning a spot on the All-MVC Second Team and All-Freshman Team
– Alondra Vazquez and Melanie Feliciano were each named to the All-MVC First Team while Taya Haffner joined Cardona on the All-Freshman squad
– Cecilia Thon was named MVC Scholar-Athlete Honorable Mention
– It was the most recognition Evansville has received since joining the MVC in 1994…Cardona was the first Aces player to pick up one of the league’s specialty awards while Feliciano and Vazquez marked the first time UE placed two on the conference first team
Last Time Out
– Advancing to the MVC Championship for the second time in three years, UE dropped its opening contest by a 3-1 final to Valpo
– Facing a 1-0 deficit, UE earned a dominant 25-16 win in the second set, but dropped the final two frames
– Alondra Vazquez picked up a double-double, totaling 17 kills and 13 digs and was named to the All-Tournament Team
– Taya Haffner paced UE with 35 assists and 18 digs
– Melanie Feliciano finished with 11 kills while Giulia Cardona had her own double-double with 10 kills and 10 digs
Top Five
– Alondra Vazquez continues to add to her kill total and currently stands with 1,384 in her Aces career
– She moved into the fifth spot in the final weekend of the regular season, surpassing Ashley Ring’s total of 1,338
– Her next jump will be into the #4 spot, which is currently held by Lisa Sampson with 1,437
– Vazquez also moved into the top ten in career digs with 1,237…9th place is Sarah McClellan with 1,279
All-MVC First Team
– For the second year in a row, Alondra Vazquez was named to the All-MVC First Team after leading the league with 4.21 kills per set
– Entering the final home weekend of the season, Alondra Vazquez was averaging 3.53 kills per set in MVC contests, which was third on the team
– In the five matches since, she has recorded an average of 4.95 per set while helping UE clinch its postseason spot
– She remains on top of the MVC list with 4.21 kills/set while pacing the league in points (4.88/set)…defensively, Vazquez leads her squad with 2.82 digs per frame, 15th in the Valley…she has had 9 or more kills in all but two matches in the fall
– Nationally, Vazquez is 31st in kills average
Freshman of the Year
– Giulia Cardona became the first player in program history to earn one of the MVC specialty awards when she was named the 2021 MVC Freshman of the Year
– In one of the top freshman campaigns in program history, Cardona led the MVC with 0.50 service aces per set, a stat that ranks in the top 15 in the nation and is the best average among all freshmen
– Over the last 44 sets of work, freshman Giulia Cardona has recorded a total of 26 service aces, an average of 0.591 per set
– She is currently on an offensive streak that has seen her record at least 10 kills in each of the last 17 matches while raising her season average to 3.85 per set
– Aside from leading the Valley in aces, she is second in points per set (4.50) and third with her kill an average
Another First Teamer
– A member of the All-MVC Second Team as a freshman in 2019, Melanie Feliciano made the jump as a junior, earning a spot on the league’s First Team
– Entering the contest against Bradley on October 8, Melanie Feliciano stood with a kill average of 3.09 per set while her hitting checked in at .262
– Since that time, the junior has upped her average to 3.36 per set and has picked up 11 or more kills in 12 of the last 15 outings while her hitting has been exceptional, finishing at .300 or higher in 10 out of the last 16 matches
– The MVC Player of the Week on Oct. 11 currently ranks 6th in the MVC with 3.30 kills per set
