Trio recognized prior to MVC championship

ST .LOUIS – Giulia Cardona, Kora Ruff and Alondra Vazquez each received Missouri Valley Conference postseason honors as the league announced its All-Conference squads on Saturday.

Cardona and Vazquez were named to the All-MVC First Team while Kora Ruff earned a spot on the All-Freshman squad.

Alondra Vazquez was named to the All-MVC First Team for the third consecutive season.  She was also an All-Freshman honoree in 2018.  Vazquez is set to complete a stellar career that saw her break the Purple Aces career kills record.  The 5-time MVC Player of the Week in her career currently has 1,864 kills, which is 4^th-best in MVC history.

She led the MVC in kills once again with an average of 4.75 per set.  In her time at Evansville, Vazquez has accumulated 5,351 attacks, which set the program record and will finish second in the league record books.

Giulia Cardona joins Vazquez on the First Team.  The 2021 MVC Freshman of the Year was named to the All-MVC Second Team last season.  Her 24-kill performance against Indiana State saw her break the Evansville single season kills record.  Currently sitting with 508, Cardona passed Vazquez’ mark of 494 versus the Sycamores.

The top effort for Cardona saw her register 25 kills at Southern Illinois.  Her average of 4.23 kills per set put her second in the Valley, trailing only Vazquez.

Kora Ruff picked up a spot on the All-Freshman squad.  With 1,232 assists in 2022, she ranks fourth in the nation and second among all freshmen nationally.  With 10.27 helpers per frame, Ruff is 4^th in the league.  As the season has wound down, Ruff has been at her best.  Over the last 13 matches, Ruff has recorded an average of 11.28 assists.

Ruff has reached the 50-assist mark in a match on five occasions with her top total of 58 coming in a win over Missouri State.  Defensively, Ruff has notched at least five digs in 29 out of UE’s 32 contests.

 Pelham, Ala.: In a back-and-forth thriller, the Thunderbolts tied their game against the Birmingham Bulls four times and took the game to overtime, just coming up short 6-5, but picked up another standings point on Friday night in Pelham, tying for 1^st place in the SPHL standings.  The Thunderbolts’ next home game will be on Friday, December 2^nd against the Quad City Storm at 7:00pm CT.  For tickets, call (812)422-BOLT (2658), go to EvansvilleThunderbolts.com, or visit the Ford Center Ticket Office.

Birmingham’s Michael Gillespie struck first at 2:27 of the first period to give Birmingham a 1-0 lead.  Evansville responded while shorthanded, as Scott Kirton scored on a breakaway from Mike Ferraro at 6:22 to tie the game 1-1.  At 12:49, the Bulls regained the lead as Mike Davis scored to put the Bulls in front 2-1.  Only 1:14 into the second period, Ferraro scored from Felix Sasser to tie the game once again, 2-2.  Birmingham again retook the lead at 5:16, as Stepan Timofeyev made it 3-2 Birmingham.

At 11:15 of the second period Fredrik Wink scored his first goal of the game, assisted by Kirton and Ferraro to make it a 3-3 game, before Carson Rose scored 45 seconds later at 12:00 to give the Bulls a 4-3 lead.  At 14:39, Wink scored once again from Aaron Huffnagle and Dillon Hill to tie the game for the fourth time, and later at 17:40 Cameron Cook scored to give Evansville their first lead of the night, assisted by Andrew Shewfelt and Matthew Barron.  The lone goal of the third period came from Birmingham’s Jordan Martin to tie the game 5-5 at 6:49.  In overtime, Jake Pappalardo scored the game-winning goal for Birmingham at the 2:46 mark.

Wink led the way with two goals, Ferraro scored one goal and two assists, Kirton finished with one goal and one assist, and Cook scored one goal.  Steeves stopped 37 of 43 shots faced in net.  These two teams meet again on November 19^th at the Pelham Civic Complex.

Aces take on Bradley in tournament opener

 

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Playing host to the Missouri Valley Conference Championship for the first time in school history, the University of Evansville volleyball team will open the championship on Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m.  As the No. 5 seed, UE will take on 8th-seeded Bradley on ESPN+.

Record-Breaking Season

– A 3-1 win over Indiana State in the regular-season finale was the 11th MVC victory of the season for UE

– That total is the most for the program since joining the league in 1994

– Prior to this season, the only year the Aces were over .500 was 2000 when UE was 10-8

First to 500 

– On November 15, Giulia Cardona became the first player in program history to record 500 kills in a single season

– Her 24-kill performance pushed her season total to 508, which bested Alondra Vazquez’ record of 494 from last season

– On Nov. 5, Cardona had her top career match with 25 kills, besting her previous total by one

– In the road trip to Missouri State and SIU, Cardona averaged 5.50 kills per set

– For the season, Cardona is second in the MVC with her 4.23 kills average while her total of 1,414 attacks is 3rd-highest in the NCAA and is just 21 away from tying Alondra Vazquez’ record of 1,435

– Defensively, Cardona has shown great improvement, chipping in an average of 2.56 digs per set over the last 21 matches (207 digs in the last 81 sets)

Making History 

– On Oct. 22 against Drake, Alondra Vazquez became the all-time program kills leader, breaking Jessica Kiefer’s record of 1,706

– Her current total of 1,864 kills is 4th in MVC history

1) 2,293           Lily Johnson, Missouri State, 2014-17

2) 1,948           Lindsay Stalzer, Bradley, 2002-05

3) 1,919           Michelle Witzke, Missouri State, 1994-97

4) 1,864           Alondra Vazquez, Evansville, 2018-

5) 1,779           Molly O’Brien, UNI, 2000-03

– Earlier this season, Vazquez moved past Julie Groves for the most attempts in program history and now has 5,351 with Groves’ mark of 4,401 ranking second…Vazquez’ total is second in MVC history

1) 6,610           Lily Johnson, Missouri State, 2014-17

2) 5,351           Alondra Vazquez, Evansville, 2018-

3) 5,060           Erica Haslag, Bradley, 2015-18

4) 4,944           Michelle Witzke, Missouri State, 1994-97

5) 4,914           Ashley Rosch, Illinois State, 2012-15

– Vazquez also moved into the top ten in career digs with 1,526…she is currently 5^th

Top Four 

– With 1,232 assists in her freshman campaign, Kora Ruff ranks fourth in the nation and second among all freshmen

– Her average of 10.27 per set ranks fourth in the MVC but her efforts in the last 13 matches has been lights out – she has recorded 11.28 assists per set over that time

– She was named the MVC Freshman of the Week on Oct. 31 following the road victories at Valpo and UIC where she averaged 11.75 assists, 3.00 digs and 0.63 service aces

– She reached 50 assists in a match for the first time on Sept. 30 at Belmont and has now reached the mark on five occasions

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana women’s swimming and diving jumped into the lead on Friday (Nov. 18) after strong performances from both squads in the second day of action at the Ohio State Fall Invitational inside the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion. The Hoosier men remain in second place, though just 54.5 points shy of host Ohio State.

Hoosier swimmers swept four events on Friday, totaling nine wins during the evening session. Sophomore Anna Peplowski tallied individual wins in the 200-yard freestyle (1:44.19) and 100-yard backstroke (52.12) and led off IU’s 200-yard medley relay victory that kick started the evening. The quartet of Peplowski, Mackenzie Looze, Elizabeth Broshears and Kristina Paegle earned the IU women their third NCAA A cut this week, finishing in 1:35.98.

The men won those same three events. Sophomore Rafael Miroslaw swam an impressive 1:33.32 in the 200 free and junior Brendan Burns followed with a 46.48 in the 100 back within a 1-2 finish alongside junior Gavin Wight (46.73). Sophomore Luke Barr, senior Van Mathias, junior Tomer Frankel and Miroslaw combined to go 1:24.09 and win the medley relay.

Indiana’s breaststroke group stood out in its sweep of the 100-yard event on Friday. In the men’s event, IU took three of the top four spots with junior Jassen Yep leading the charge in 52.05. Placing third and fourth, respectively, were Josh Matheny (52.30) and Maxwell Reich (52.84). Senior Noelle Peplowski claimed the women’s event in 59.17, one of three top-eight finishers and five top-16 placements for IU.

The men stacked the deck in A final in the 100-yard butterfly as well, capturing four of the top six finishes. Burns (45.81) placed second right in front of sophomore Finn Brooks (45.88) and junior Tomer Frankel (46.10) and the sixth-place finisher, senior Van Mathias (46.40).

IU divers totaled four top-four finishes. Sophomore Carson Tyler finished as the runner-up on the men’s 3-meter springboard, a fraction of a point short of Miami’s Maxwell Flory, 425.70-425.15 after executing a 91-point dive in the final round. Fellow sophomore Quinn Henninger placed fourth with 400.25 points. Junior Anne Fowler (306.10) and sophomore Megan Carter (288.85) placed third and fourth on the women’s 1-meter board.

VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University Lady Trailblazers picked up their fifth win of the season Friday night at the Physical Education Complex, winning over Malcolm X College 96-70 on the first night of the second VU Classic of the season.

Vincennes grabbed the lead early in the first quarter and quickly built a four-point advantage at the end of the opening 10 minutes of play.

VU would break the game open early in the second quarter, outscoring the Hawks 10-2 to begin the period.

The Lady Blazers would end up taking a 16-point 43-27 lead into the locker room at the break after holding Malcolm X to just nine points in the second quarter.

Vincennes would continue to apply pressure defensively as VU would hold a 66-45 lead heading into the final 10 minutes of play.

The Lady Blazers put the game away in the fourth quarter after a 9-0 scoring run gave the Blazers a 29-point lead.

Malcolm X would trade baskets with the Blazers late in the fourth quarter but were unable to put together a scoring run to cut into the big lead as VU capped off their fifth win of the season 96-70.

“For the first time in a long time we actually scored some points in the first half,” VU Hall of Fame Head Coach Harry Meeks said. “We ran a couple of plays to get us going early. We ran a play off the tip-off that we scored on.”

“Our shooting is still erratic,” Meeks added. “I don’t know what to fix it with right now, except to play our way out of it. Maycee had a tough night shooting the ball tonight on plays that she usually makes all the time. You can’t let that bother you. If you miss a shot, the next one is going in. But our team played really hard. We guarded them full court and tried to tire them out and I think we did a pretty good job of that. I’m really pleased with how the girls played. I think they are excited about how we keep getting better. We’ve still got some things to clean up, but we’re working on it.”

Vincennes was led offensively by sophomore Cherrelle Newsom (Indianapolis, Ind.) who finished with 22 points, a pair of steals and a pair of assists, including four makes from behind the three-point arc.

Sophomore Nyre Williams (Indianapolis, Ind.) came off the bench to score in double-figures with 17 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Freshman Katrina Litte (Valmiera, Latvia) also reached double-figures off the bench, ending with 14 points, a team-high five assists, four rebounds and three steals.

Sophomore Chanice Willis (Champaign, Ill.) was the fourth and final Lady Blazer to reach double-digits, ending with 11 points and three steals.

Freshman Elikya Baseyila (Paris, France) just missed a double-double for Vincennes as the six-foot-one center controlled the offensive glass all night on her way to a team-high 12 rebounds, nine offensive rebounds and nine points.