Vetter throws complete game in opener

 CARBONDALE, Ill. – Marah Wood hit a 3-run blast while Izzy Vetter picked up her 10^th victory of the season to help the University of Evansville softball team split Sunday’s doubleheader against Southern Illinois at Charlotte West Stadium.

UE (18-13, 6-6 MVC) opened the day with an 8-2 win before the Salukis (28-7, 10-4 MVC) held on for a 4-1 decision in the second contest.

GAME 1

The offense erupted for eight runs in Sunday’s opener, which was highlighted by a 3-run home run from Marah Wood.  UE wasted little time in jumping out front, plating two runs in each of the first two innings.  Eryn Gould and Wood each posted 1-out hits to bring Alyssa Barela to the plate.  Her successful squeeze scored Gould for the opening run of the game.  Haley Woolf added an RBI single to make it a 2-0 lead.

Mea Adams was hit by a pitch to lead off the second before scoring on a Katie McLean double.  Jessica Fehr added an RBI knock of her own to cement a 4-0 UE lead.  Izzy Vetter kept the Salukis off balance with meticulous pitching and the offense would add some extra insurance in the sixth.  Some 2-out magic padded the lead with Fehr recording her second hit of the day before Gould reached on a walk.  Next up was Wood, who hit a homer to right center to push the lead to 7-0.  A final run would cross the plate in the 7^th on a Jenna Lis sacrifice.

SIU scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh on a Jenny Jansen homer, but it could not overcome the deficit with Evansville clinching the 8-2 victory.  Wood, Fehr and Woolf each recorded two hits apiece while Wood paced the team with three runs batted in.  Vetter won her 10^th game of the season, striking out nine batters while giving up two runs on six hits.

GAME 2

Saluki starting pitcher Sarah Harness had another strong start for her squad, fanning 11 batters while scattering four hits across the 7-inning effort.  Evansville looked to be in business early on as Jessica Fehr led the game off with a double, but three strikeouts in a row ended the threat.  In the bottom of the first, SIU pounced with Katelyn Massa hitting a 2-run shot.

In the third, Southern Illinois added another run to their lead.  The Aces were able to push a run across in the fifth when Eryn Gould singled through the right side to score Hannah Hood, who also singled earlier in the inning.  That would be the only run the Aces would score as SIU tacked on one more run to take a 4-1 win and split the doubleheader.

Evansville had four hits in the game while Katie McLean walked twice.  Jaime Nurrenbern went all six innings in the circle, allowing four runs on seven hits while striking out six.

Another road weekend is on tap when the Aces travel to Des Moines, Iowa for a 3-game series on Saturday and Sunday.

VALPARAISO, Ind. – The University of Evansville women’s soccer team sees the 2020-21 season end after a battle against Valparaiso in the opening round of the Missouri Valley Conference championship.

The contest stretched the full 110-minuites forcing a penalty kick shootout between the two squads, with Valpo advancing to the semi-finals with a 5-3 advantage.

As a team the Purple Aces attempted 10 shots with three aimed at goal, led by Emily Ormson and Kristen Harvey both with two efforts.

Goalkeeper Michaela Till made seven clutch saves to keep the Aces in the match, including three in the second overtime.

Evansville ends the season with a 2-3-3, 2-3-2 MVC record and ranks in the top 20 in the NCAA in goals-against-average.

OXFORD, Ohio- The University of Evansville men’s swimming and diving team competed in day three of the Mid-American Conference championship meet on Saturday, bringing their season to an end.

Jackson Caudill finished his historic freshman season in the 1650-yard freestyle race. He finished in sixth place with a time of 16:08.60. Grant Kay came in behind him and finished in ninth place with a time of 16:27.41.

Three Aces competed in both the 200-yard backstroke with Jackson Kennedy (1:53.08) finished in tenth, Sam Leatherwood (1:53.42) finished in eleventh, and David Killian (1:54.23) finished in thirteenth in the backstroke.

In the 200-yard breaststroke Max Dehen (2:04.94) finished in twelfth, Eli James (2:05.80) finished in thirteenth, and Pierce Lively (2:07.44) finished in fourteenth in the breaststroke.

Riccardo Domenico finished out his season by placing eleventh in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 45.03. He also helped his team place fifth in the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:03.85) with Credence Pattinson, Zeke Metz, and Austin Smith.

Metz, Griffin Hammet, and Tsien EE Tan swam in the 200-yard butterfly. Metz (1:52.33) placed twelfth, Hammet (1:52.96) placed fourteenth, and Tan (1:53.87) placed fifteenth.

The Aces finished in fifth place with 301 points, while Miami University (Ohio) took the championship with 932 points.

The women’s swimming and diving team will compete for the Missouri Valley Conference championship next week, April 15-17, in Carbondale, Ill.

Sophomores Koch and Anderson Combine for 36 kills, Gubera posts career-high

University of Southern Indiana Volleyball closed out its regular season in a stunning fashion, beating the top-ranked Lewis Flayers in five sets at Neil Carey Arena. Leading the charge for the Screaming Eagles was Leah Anderson, Katherine Koch, and Callie Gubera, with career and season-highs, which pushed the 24th-ranked Eagles to victory over the No.1 team in the nation.

The Screaming Eagles knocked off a top-ranked team for the first time in program history with the victory over Lewis. The Lewis Flyers entered the match with a 16-0 record on the year and the number one national ranking since March 3, ranking no lower than second since February 10. In the five-set match, USI went down early in in two highly competitive and contested sets, fighting back to sweep the final three sets and claim the win over the top-ranking Flyers. The Eagles led in the majority of statistical categories enroute to the victory, including hitting percentage, kills, assists, aces, blocks, and points.

The offensive barrage against the Flyers was led by sophomore duo Koch and Anderson again. Adding to her 18 kills, which was a season-high, Anderson collected a match-leading 23.0 points which marked four-straight contests with double-figures in both kills and points. The Bloomington, Illinois-native added in four aces and played the defensive side thoroughly with 17 digs and two blocks. Koch recorded career-highs in kills and points while hitting an impressive .261 mark on 46 attacks. The outside hitter recorded her fourth-straight match with double-figures in both categories as well, adding a season-high of five blocks, pluse two assists, two aces, and 13 digs. The Eagles’ offense went far beyond the sophomore duo, with five more players recording at least one kill. Junior Taylor Litteken hit .308 with nine kills with two aces and three blocks, totaling 12.5 points and freshman Abby Weber posted seven kills with nine points. Sidney Hegg recorded four kills, Casey Cepicky blasted three and libero Gubera nabbed one. USI posted a better attack percentage and kill count than the opposing Flyers, especially with the floor general Cepicky recording 48 assists to coordinate the bombardment.

On defense, USI showed its true colors with five players recording 12-plus digs and six thwarting at least one Lewis attack. The senior Gubera posted a career-high in digs with 38 to lead the defense. Anderson laid out for 17, followed by Cepicky and Koch each with 13, and Weber with 12. At the net, USI set a season-high in blocks with 13.5 and digs with 100 against the Flyers. The block-effort was led by junior Hegg derailing nine Lewis attacks, a career-high for the middle blocker. Just behind Hegg was Koch with five, Litteken and Cepicky with three each, while Anderson and Weber both had two.

The victory leads the Screaming Eagles into the GLVC Volleyball Championship Tournament with a four-game win streak. The Screaming Eagles rank third in the GLVC Point-Rating-System (PRS) as of 4/10/2021. The top eight teams (via the GLVC PRS) will compete for a conference championship in a single-elimination tournament.

NOTES:
USI Volleyball defeated a national No. 1-ranked program for the first time in its history with the 3-2 victory over the Lewis Flyers. The Eagles also returned the favor to Lewis with the five-set win in Romeoville, as Lewis defeated USI 3-2 in Evansville in January.

In the GLVC East division, the Screaming Eagles went 7-1, sweeping the season series versus UIndy, McKendree, and UIS while splitting its series with Lewis. USI owns a 14-4 overall record this year.