Aces fall by 3-0 final to Bears
Melanie Feliciano recorded a team-high 11 kills in Sunday’s series opener at Missouri State that saw the Bears finish with a 3-0 victory.
Feliciano finished with 11 kills and 9 digs while Alondra Vazquez was just behind with 8 kills. Chloe Bontrager added six. Vazquez and Thon tied for the UE (3-8, 2-7 MVC) lead with 10 digs while Hannah Watkins finished the game with 5 block assists. Allana McInnis added 18 assists to her career numbers. Brooklyn Cink led all players with 16 kills while Amelia Flynn notched 15 for the Bears (10-2, 6-1 MVC).
Game 1Â Â Â Â
Missouri State jumped out to a 5-2 lead before Evansville stormed back to tie it up at 6-6 with kills by Bontrager and Brooke Springer before jumping in front. MSU went back up by three at 12-9 but the Aces were once again able to rally back, opening up a 16-14 advantage with Feliciano kills accounting for three Aces points in a row. With the set knotted at 17-17, MSU took control, scoring five in a row before winning by a score of 25-21.
Game 2
The Bears followed their win in game one with a dominant 25-12 victory in the second game. The jumped out to a 9-3 lead before going up by double figures for the first time at 20-10. They never looked back as they cruised to the win.
Game 3Â Â Â Â
Evansville faced another early deficit in game three with the Bears going up by a 10-4 margin. Two kills by Feliciano, one from Bontrager and a service ace by Allana McInnis saw Evansville cut the gap in half, clawing back to a 12-9 score. The Bears countered with an 8-3 rally to open their largest lead at 20-12. UE did not give up, getting back within three tallies at 22-19 on back-to-back Missouri State errors. The Bears regrouped and fended off the challenge to finish the match with a 25-20 win.
On Monday, the teams meet up again in a 5 p.m. match.
