Feliciano adds 12 kills in the

 SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Giulia Cardona led the University of Evansville volleyball team with 30 kills and 16 digs in a 3-1 win over the University of Puerto Rico – Rio Piedras on Saturday at Coliseo Mario Morales.

Cardona hit .397 on the night while adding an ace.  Feliciano also had a double-double with 12 kills and 13 digs.  Kora Ruff completed the night with 52 assists while Madisyn Steele posted a block solo and 10 block assists.

Game 1 – UE 25, UPR 15

Angelica Gonzalez Maltes had an efficient start, recording two early kills to put the Aces up 5-3.  Giulia Cardona registered her third tally of the night to extend the lead to 8-4 before Madisyn Steele got on the board to make it a 12-7 game.

It was the defense who came through over the net sequence with Maltes and Steele teaming up on consecutive blocks as the lead grew to eight points at 17-9.  Evansville continued to add to its lead, taking the set by a score of 25-15.  Cardona had six kills while Steele had five block assists.

Game 2 – UPR 28, UE 26

Evansville’s defense continued its solid play in the second frame as Chloe Cline and Maltes had a block assist to double up UPR, 6-3.  Cardona notched an ace to extend the lead to four while Cline had a nice play in the middle to make it an 11-6 game.

Just when it looked like the Aces were primed to pull away, Puerto Rico – Rio Piedras stormed back.  After closing to 15-13, UPR tied the score at 19-19 on a service ace.  UE regained its composure as kills by Melanie Feliciano and Steele put their squad back on top.  UPR did not relent, staging a late rally of their own, taking a 24-22 lead.  Cardona tied the score at 24-24 with a pair of kills, but UPR was victorious in extra points, 28-26.

Game 3 – UE 25, UPR 23

Three Cardona kills set the Aces up with an early 5-3 edge before UPR tied the game at 6-6.  An ace from Krystell Pappas highlighted a 4-0 run that saw Evansville jump back in front.  Evansville extended its lead to 17-12 when Maltes added another kill, but UPR staged another rally, cutting the deficit to just a point at 19-18.

Chloe Cline righted the ship with a huge kill before Cardona added the two clinching kills to put Evansville back in front with a 2-1 match lead.

Game 4 – UE 25, UPR 17

UE had its best start of the evening, scoring the first four points of the set with Feliciano recording two kills.  Trailing 5-1, UPR posted three in a row in a rally that would eventually see them tie the game at 8-8.  Two kills from Steele helped the Aces go back in front by a 15-10 tally.  From there, the Aces clinched the match on the strength of a 25-17 win.

On Sunday, UE completes the trip with a 3 p.m. CT match versus Providence.

PEORIA, Ill. – University of Southern Indiana Volleyball (2-1) left the CEFCU Invitational in Peoria, Illinois with a dominating victory (25-23, 25-22, 25-17) against Bradley University needing only three sets, 3-0. Senior outside hitter Abby Weber (Fishers, Indiana) joined a special club, surpassing 1,000 career digs.
 
A strong start led to an opening-frame win for the Eagles, 25-23. The Eagles fired off another late surge, finishing the set on a 14-8 run. Senior Carly Sobieralski (Indianapolis, Indiana) was locked in setting up her teammates nine times along with six digs.
 
USI has dominated the second set all weekend, winning 25-22 marking the third second set victory of the weekend. Five different Eagles fired home kills, but sophomore Ashby Willis (Mount Carmel, Illinois) and senior Paris Downing (Avon, Indiana) led the way with four each. The only clear statistical difference between both squads after two sets was USI’s edge in errors (17-12) and blocks (9.0-3.0).
 
The Eagles completed the sweep of the Braves in dominant fashion, 25-17. Junior Bianca Anderson (Chicago Heights, Illinois) proved why she was chosen as an OVC Player to Watch. Anderson put the Braves away with two emphatic kills. USI avenged their narrow five-set loss from the 2023 season with the Braves to tie the series history at one. 
 
Anderson led the Eagles in kills with 11. Sobieralski added another efficient game with 33 assists, averaging 11 per set. Junior Keira Moore (Newburgh, Indiana) led the team in digs with 16 for the second time this season. Anderson also nabbed a team leading five blocks.
 
As a team, USI tallied 40 kills, 38 assists, 68 digs, and nine blocks. The Braves finished with 42 kills, 38 assists, 70 digs, and three blocks. The clear difference was USI committing just 14 errors opposed to the Braves 27.
 
Weber becomes the 14^th Screaming Eagle in program history to achieve 1,000 digs. The senior has been a model of consistency since the day she stepped onto campus.
 
The Eagles leave Peoria 2-1, beating opponents from two tough conferences including Summit League and the Missouri Valley along with taking Depaul University from the Big East wire to wire.

PERRYSBURG, Ohio – The Vincennes University volleyball team had an excellent bounce back day Saturday at the final day of the 2024 Owens Community College Tournament in Ohio.

VU bounced back from yesterday’s games with a pair of sweeps, first winning over Southwestern Michigan College 25-13, 25-13, 25-17, before closing out the tournament against Danville Area Community College 25-12, 25-7, 25-19.

The Blazers got the day start out right with the first game of the day against Southwestern Michigan, after the Roadrunners got the first point of the match, VU answered by going on a big 11-0 scoring run with three aces by sophomore Libby Mehringer (Jasper, Ind.).

Southwestern Michigan responded back with four unanswered points before the two teams traded 5-0 scoring runs.

VU continued to ride this early momentum through the first set as the Blazers closed out set one of the day 25-13 to take an early 1-0 match lead.

Set two looked to be more of a back-and-forth contest early with Southwestern Michigan holding an early 6-5 advantage.

This was before VU again used a big scoring run to shift the momentum of the game, scoring eight unanswered with sophomore libero Grace Flexter (Oblong, Ill.) on the service line to rally back to take a 13-6 lead.

The Roadrunners were able to cut the deficit down to 13-10 but this would be as close as they would get as VU closed out the second set strong, taking set two 25-13 and grab the 2-0 match lead.

Looking to complete the three set sweep, Vincennes again found themselves in a back-and-forth battle early in set three.

Vincennes was able to take advantage of a series of two-for-one scoring runs to build a 16-12 lead over Southwestern Michigan midway through the set.

VU would then pick up a pair of 4-0 scoring runs to help put the game away as the Blazers closed out set three 25-17 to complete the sweep and get back on the winning track.

“We wanted to play very well today, to make up for the tough losses from yesterday,” VUVB Head Coach Gary Sien said. “That’s like losing twice in overtime. We wanted to take control from the beginning to end with our service and blocking game.”

The VU offense was led in match one of the day by sophomore Laura Tavares (Merida, Venezuela) who finished with 13 kills, one block and one dig.

Sophomores Isadora Dias (Rio Grande de Norte, Brazil) and Elisa Dalla Pozza (Vincenza, Italy) followed Tavares with Dias adding eight kills, six digs, two blocks and one set assist and Dalla Pozza adding seven kills, three blocks, three digs, one set assist and one ace.

Freshman Martyna Sadowska (Pila, Poland) and sophomore Allison Czyzewski (Louisville, Ill.) each had big games at the net as well with Sadowska finishing with five kills, three blocks and two digs and Czyzewski adding four kills and two blocks.

The VU offense was rounded out by sophomore setter Libby Mehringer who ran the offense with 30 set assists, eight digs, three aces, two kills and one block.

Mehringer’s team-high eight digs were matched by freshman Brooklyn Summers (Loogootee, Ind.), who finished with eight digs, two aces and one set assist.

Sophomore Dylan DeCoursey (Montgomery, Ind.) added three digs, while freshman Rylee Edwards (Fairfield, Ill.) added a pair of set assists.

Sophomore libero Grace Flexter rounded out the VU box score with three set assists, two digs and one ace.

The Blazers then returned to the court for the final match of the two-day tournament, facing off against Danville Area Community College.

Vincennes wasted little time grabbing the momentum against the Jaguars, launching a massive 14-0 scoring run in set one behind an outstanding seven aces by Brooklyn Summers to take a big 15-2 lead.

Danville continued to battle but were unable to overcome this big deficit as Vincennes grabbed set one 25-12 and took the early 1-0 match lead.

Set two began with the two teams trading points before the Blazers again broke the set open with another big 14-0 scoring run, this time with sophomore Dylan DeCoursey at the service line to take an 18-4 lead.

Vincennes used this big scoring run to glide to a big 25-7 set two victory and earn a 2-0 match lead.

Danville looked determined to avoid the sweep early in set three with the Jaguars jumping out to an early 7-5 advantage before the Blazers answered back with a 10-1 scoring run to take a 15-8 lead.

After the two teams traded points, Vincennes continued to add to their lead to 23-14 before Danville looked to make a late run but were unable to complete the comeback as VU took set three 25-19 and completed the daily sweep.

“Same thing, different team,” Sien added. “Danville Area, who restarted their program after a 10 year break, has some good athletes we were targeting.”

CHARLESTON, Ill. – The Vincennes University Cross Country season got off to an interesting start Friday afternoon at the 2024 Walt Crawford Open hosted by Eastern Illinois University.

High temperatures and a lightning delay forced changes to the schedule, which caused the men’s and women’s races to be run at the same time and the men’s race to be changed to a 5K race instead of the usual 8K.

“The meet got pushed back an hour on Thursday due to the hot weather,” VU Head Cross Country Coach Tyler Steigenga said. “An hour before the women’s race on Friday, there was lightning in the area, so we had to take shelter inside. We waited about an hour and then all of the coaches got told that we were going to run the men and women together with both doing a 5K. It got a little chaotic as that gave everyone less than 20 minutes to get to the line in order to get the race in before more potential storms. To add to the chaos it was 90 degrees at the start, with a real feel of 98 degrees.”

The VU runners were still determined to put together good times on the course however, as once the meet finally got underway, VU freshman Ibrahim Sakka (Kairouan, Tunisia) led the way for the blue and gold, posting a time of 15:41.1 and taking sixth place overall.

Sophomores Caden Hostetler (LaGrange, Ind.) and Cody Noel (Hebron, Ind.) were next across the line, with Hostetler setting a time of 16:49.2 and Noel coming in at 16:50.7 for 21st and 22nd place overall.

Freshman Lane Connaway (Carmi, Ill.) was the fourth VU runner across the line, finishing with a time of 17:14.1 and taking 28th place overall.

Sophomore Tanner Spence (Carmi, Ill.) rounded out the Vincennes scorers with a final time of 17:35.9 and taking 33rd place overall.

Spence was closely followed by freshmen Jeremy Delobel (Velpen, Ind.) and Rylan Mullins (Greenwood, Ind.) with Delobel placing 34th at 17:41.8 and Mullins finishing at 17:45.6.

The last group of VU runners was led by sophomore Bryaun Manuel (East St. Louis, Ill.) who took 40th place overall with a time of 18:11.1.

Sophomore Nathan Whitehead (Vincennes, Ind.) and freshman Hayden Kler (Hillsboro, Ind.) were right behind with Whitehead finishing with a time of 18:12.6 and Kler crossing at 18:40.8.

Freshmen Alexis Kwizera (Indianapolis, Ind.), Dakoda Greci (Danville, Ind.) and Tucker Henson (Louisville, Ky.) rounded out the VU men’s runners with Kwizera posting a time of 18:50.3, Greci at 19:08.0 and Henson crossing the line at 19:34.5.

Overall the Vincennes University men’s team finished third as a team after coming in with a total of 63 points.

The VU women’s team was unable to post a team score with only three runners able to compete Friday, but the runners still put together some good times and placed well individually.

The VU women’s team was led by freshman Allie Black (Lynn, Ind.) who finished with a time of 20:31.1 and took 12th place overall.

Sophomore Adi Fuller (Evansville, Ind.) placed 27th overall with a final time of 22:43.6, just ahead of freshman Alexis Hale (Evansville, Ind.) who finished at 23:34.4 to take 28th place overall.

“The circumstances weren’t ideal for running fast,” Steigenga added. “I’m just glad we were able to get out on the course and compete. The times were slow across the board today and definitely don’t reflect what we’ve been doing in practice. The exception was Allie Black, who managed to PR by 15 seconds. I was expecting big improvement from Allie this season as she has taken her training to a new level from high school, but was very surprised to see it happen in these conditions.”

“We’ve got three weeks to continue stacking some good training and then get a much better idea of where we are at when we compete at Indiana State,” Steigenga said.

The Trailblazer Cross Country teams will look to build off of these times and continue to improve as the season progresses, hopefully with much better running conditions, as VU now turns their attention to the 2024 John McNichols Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 21, hosted by Indiana State University.

The races will be run at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute.