Prior to its final home stand of the season, the Aces head to Southern Illinois for a match on Saturday at 7 p.m. Evansville is looking to halt a streak that has seen the squad fall in 13 of its last 15 matches. Just five more matches remain in the season, including home matches next week versus Illinois State and Indiana State.
Genesis Miranda continued to rack up the kills with a total of 52 in three matches last week. She has notched 20 or more in five MVC matches this season while accomplishing the feat just once last season. She has also registered 15 or more in seven league outings.
Making a big impact in last Saturday’s 4-set match at Loyola was senior Gabriela Roman. In her first season with the Purple Aces, Roman set her career mark with 10 kills against the Ramblers. Those kills came in 27 attempts against just three errors as she hit .259.
While Kim Deprez continues to lead the Aces in digs, freshman Mildrelis Rodriguez has done a great job in racking up her fair share of digs. She stands with an average of 3.34 per set this season, just outside the top ten in the league. She has recorded 12 or more in each of the last six matches. Deprez has recorded 517 digs this season, 9th-most in a season for UE. Julie Walroth set the program’s all-time mark for a season with 656 in 2007.
With 41 attempts against Missouri State earlier in the week, Genesis Miranda set the UE program single-season record with 1,272. It breaks the record previous held by Julie Groves, who registered 1,256 attempts in 1998. Miranda is on the cusp of breaking another one of Groves’ marks – her season record for kills. Miranda sits with 444 on the season, just 10 behind Groves mark of 454 from ‘98.
Standing second in the Missouri Valley Conference is Southern Illinois as they have an impressive 10-3 league mark and are 19-7 overall. Andrea Estrada ranks fourth in the conference with 3.43 kills per set while Taylor Pippen ranks as one of the most accurate hitters in the league. Her .392 hitting has her in third place in the MVC. Pippen’s efforts have the Salukis sitting atop the conference, hitting .259 as a team. Defensively, SIU has also been stellar, notching 2.50 blocks per set, tops in the league.
