Aces and Flames play longest match in NCAA history
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – It was a record-breaking evening inside Meeks Family Fieldhouse as the University of Evansville volleyball team outlasted UIC in a thrilling 5-set match on Friday.
Giulia Cardona tied the Missouri Valley Conference record while setting the UE program mark with 40 kills. She tied Bobbi Becker’s (Petersen) record, which was set against Illinois State in 1989. She added 16 digs in the performance. Melanie Feliciano picked up 27 kills in the victory. Ainoah Cruz set her career mark with 32 digs while Kora Ruff set her top collegiate tally with 64 assists.
Friday’s contest lasted 3 hours and 44 minutes making it the longest volleyball match in NCAA history. The previous record of 3:38 was set in 1998 when Hawaii defeated BYU.
 Game 1 – UIC 25, UE 22
While the Flames led for the duration of the opening set, Evansville did a nice job of rallying every time it faced a deficit. After scoring the first two points, UIC jumped out to a 4-1 advantage before extending the lead to 12-7. Evansville utilized its first time out and immediately responded with a 5-1 run to make it a 13-12 game. Giulia Cardona had consecutive kills to complete the run.
Just when it looked like the Aces had the momentum, UIC took a time out and responded to match its largest lead of the set at five points (21-16). UE took its second time out had the answer once again. Three more Cardona kills helped UE tie it up at 22-22. The Flames had the final answer as they scored the final three tallies to take a 1-0 lead.
Game 2 – UE 25, UIC 22
Emilee Scheumann recorded a kill that gave Evansville its first lead of the match at 5-4 and Brooke Springer would push the advantage to 9-6 with a solo block. The Flames fought back to tie the set at 9-9, but the pivotal run for the Aces came when they turned a 12-12 tie into a 16-12 lead. Cardona picked up another kill during the rally and would add three more as the Aces pushed their edge to 22-15.
UIC stormed back, reeling off six points in a row to get within one. A serving error gave UE some breathing room and Melanie Feliciano added two late kills to clinch the set and tie the match.
Game 3 – UE 27, UIC 25
What looked like it would be a runaway win for the Purple Aces turned into a wild finish in the third set. Evansville scored the opening three points of the set with Feliciano adding two more kills before a pair of aces by Ainoah Cruz solidified an 8-1 lead.
Brooke Springer registered a kill that extended the advantage all the way to 17-8. The tenacious Flames squad never gave up and slowly chipped away at the deficit. In total, UIC went on a 15-6 rally to tie the game at 23-23. With the game tied at 25-25, Evansville got the kill that it needed as Feliciano placed the ball perfectly to give the Aces the lead. An error by the Flames clinched the set.
Game 4 – UIC 25, UE 21
UE once again had a huge start, jumping out to a 7-2 advantage. Cardona and Feliciano racked up two more kills apiece. The Flames cut the deficit to 11-10 before the Aces retook a 17-14 advantage with Emilee Scheumann posting a kill. Once again, the Flames fought back as a 9-1 stretch put them on top – 23-18 before they forced a fifth set with the 25-21 win.
Game 5 – UE 36, UIC 34
Evansville broke a 4-4 tie with two points to take a 6-4 lead before takings its largest lead at 13-10. With the score knotted at 10-10, Feliciano and Cardona picked up kills to put the Aces in a strong position. Another Feliciano kill pushed the lead to 14-12 as the Aces had match point. Unfortunately, the Flames came back with two in a row to tie it back up. UIC followed that up by taking a 16-15 lead to have their first try at set point before a Cardona kill tied the score.
The teams battled it out with neither squad giving up. Both had multiple tries at match point with the opposition matching. Finally, with the score tied at 34-34, the Aces forced two errors to clinch the win.
Valparaiso is next up for UE with Saturday’s match set for a 5 p.m. start.
