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.

Sophia Rohleder ties for 4^th place

 MURRAY, Ky. – In the final day of the Jan Weaver Invite, University of Evansville senior Sophia Rohleder paced the team with a 77 to lead the Purple Aces to a 9^th place finish at Miller Memorial Golf Course.

UE wrapped up the tournament with a 316 on Saturday to score a 932 over the three rounds.  The Aces came in one stroke ahead of Dayton and one behind Georgia State.

Rohleder carded a 5-over 77 on Saturday to clinch a tie for 4^th place.  Her 223 was seven off of the champion – Taylor Ledwein of Bradley.  Ledwein had a 216 and defeated Belmont’s Delia Gibbs by three strokes.

Second for UE was Mallory Russell.  Her final round came in at a 79 and her tournament tally of 236 tied her for 41^st.  Allison Enchelmayer finished one behind Russell.  A 78 in round three gave her a 237, which tied her for 46^th.

Caitlin O’Donnell recorded an 81 on the final day to finish with a 242 while Alyssa McMinn’s 82 on Saturday saw her finish with a 243.  Carly Frazier rounded out the UE contingent.  Her final round of 84 gave her a 3-round total of 240, which was tied for the 4^th-best individual score.

Murray State took the team championship, defeating Central Arkansas by two strokes.  The Racers posted a 299 on Saturday to finish with a 3-round total of 898.

The spring season wraps up on April 19 and 20 at the Missouri Valley Conference Championship in St. Charles, Mo.

Walk-off home run gives Salukis 3-1 victory

 

Izzy Vetter and Sarah Harness battled it out in a pitcher’s duel before Southern Illinois hit a walk-off home run to defeat the University of Evansville softball team by a 3-1 final on Saturday afternoon at Charlotte West Stadium.

Both pitchers allowed just one run through the first six frames, but it was SIU (27-6, 9-3 MVC) who would win in the 7^th when Jenny Jansen hit a 2-run home run to clinch the 3-1 win.  Vetter struck out five hitters for UE (17-12, 5-5 MVC) while Harness fanned 11 batters.

Eryn Gould picked up two of the Purple Aces’ six hits on the day while Marah Wood, Jessica Fehr, Lindsay Renneisen and Hannah Hood recorded one hit apiece.  The Salukis also finished the day with six hits.  Gould started out strong, leading the game off with a double, but was stranded on the bases to wrap up the inning.

Southern Illinois broke through with a run in the second when Maddy Vermejan drew a bases loaded walk to score the first run of the game.

Evansville got the run right back in the third when Hood led off with a single before advancing to third on another double by Gould.  Katie McLean converted a successful squeeze play to score Hood and tie the game.  That is when the pitchers took over, keeping the opposing offenses off the board, but in the seventh, the Salukis came through.  Vermejan led off with a walk before Jansen homered on a 1-0 pitch to seal the game.

On Sunday, the squads meet up for a doubleheader starting at 12 p.m. CT.