Meet begins at 11 a.m. CST

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – In the second meet of the 2025-26 season the University of Evansville swimming and diving teams travel to West Lafayette, Ind. for the Dan Ross Indiana Intercollegiate.

Along with host Purdue, the field includes Ball State, Butler (women), UE, Indiana Wesleyan, IU Indy, UIndy, Rose-Hulman, USI, Valparaiso, and Wabash (men). The order of events will be 200 Medley Relay, 200 Free, 50 Free, 100 IM, 100 Fly, 500 Free Relay, 100 Free, 100 Back, 100 Breaststroke, 200 Free Relay, and the 1-meter & 3-meter dives.

UE opened the season last weekend at McKendree as the Purple Aces put up solid performances across the board. Chris Rector picked up a win for the men in the 200-IM. Posting a 2:00.85, he defeated teammate Joao Guiherme by close to five seconds. Rector was second in the 200-breasstroke (2:11.20) and added a third-place finish in the 100-breaststroke with his time of 1:044.14.  The group of Michael Pruett, Alex Willis, Brendan Ulewicz, and Sammy McCall won the 400 free relay. They combined for a time of 3:11.62.

Willis took second place in the 50-free. Swimming a 21.76, he was 0.23 off the top time. He added a third place run in the 100-fly, finishing in 52.34. Ulewicz was fourth in the race. Pruett picked up a second-place finish in the 100-free race. He swam a 47.07.

Ane Madina, Claire Mewbourne, Evelyn Chin, and Grace Moody opened the day with a victory in the 200 Medley Relay. Their time of 1:47.26 was just over a second on top of second place. Making her debut with the Purple Aces, Moody continued her solid day with a victory in the 100-free. Her time of 52.50 was just 0.20 away from one of the top ten times in program history. She was the runner-up in the 50-free race, finishing in 24.38, just 0.01 off the winning time. Jadyn Dauphinais was third, finishing in 25.41.

Claire Mewbourne took the victory in the 200-IM. With a time of 2:12.27, she came in just under two seconds in front of her nearest competition. She posted runner-up finishes in the 100-breaststroke recording a time of 1:06.18 before adding another second in the 200-breaststroke (2:23.17).

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo.- University of Southern Indiana Volleyball grabbed its third straight win in a thrilling reverse sweep five-set match at Southeast Missouri State University to move to 3-2 in Ohio Valley Conference play.

In the first five-set battle of the 2025 season, the Screaming Eagles came alive in the third set after dropping the first two, to come back and win the game 3-2.

Set 1: SEMO 25, USI 19
The Screaming Eagles started strong with some quick push and pull with the Redhawks. Junior McKenzie Murphy led the offense with three kills, followed by three teammates with two each. The defense that leads the conference in digs per set picked up 17 in the first, led by libero Audrey Small, who had five.

Set 2: SEMO 25, USI 18
Junior outsides Ashby Willis and Leah Coleman split the offense with four kills each. The Eagles struggled to gain the edge in the second set, tying the score five times in the start but ceding control of the set to the Redhawks by SEMO’s tenth point. The SEMO offense hit for its best percent of the night in set two at .471 with just one error, which USI struggled to defend against.

Set 3: USI 25, SEMO 22
The USI defense came alive in the third set to save themselves from a SEMO sweep. The team put up five blocks in the set, led by freshman Carley Wright and senior Bianca Adnerson, who assisted on three blocks each. The Eagles pushed a lead from the beginning and maintained a hold on the lead the whole set.  OVC Setter and Freshman of the Week Aysa Thomas marked her 10^th consecutive double-double by the third set. She added nine more assists and six more digs, bringing her total mid-match to 26 assists and 15 digs.

Set 4: USI 26, SEMO 24
USI stretched as much as an eight-point lead in the fourth set, and after SEMO fought back in the final plays to tie the game, the Eagles took it in extra points. Willis led the court with eight kills on two errors for a .400 hitting percentage. Thomas dished out 15 assists, balancing the offense, to build a .286 hitting percentage for the team.

Set 5: USI 15, SEMO 10
The Screaming Eagles came out swinging for the tiebreaker fifth set, moving to a four-point lead to open. Coleman scored USI five straight points on an Anderson serving run in the middle of the set. Coleman landed three kills, followed by a block then another kill to swing the Eagle momentum to dominate the final set. Coleman finished the set with six kills, helping the Eagles to their most efficient set of the game, with a .407 hitting percentage on just two errors as a team.

As a team, the Eagles landed a season-high 10 aces, led by senior Keira Moore, who had four to match her career high. Willis led the offense with 21 kills, followed by Coleman with 18. Thomas finished with 52 assists and led the back court with 19 digs for a career high.

USI’s defense, which ranks third in the NCAA in digs per set, picked up 83 digs as a team, with five different Eagles with double-digit digs.

CHARLESTON, Ill. – University of Southern Indiana Women’s Soccer recorded its second road result of the week on Thursday afternoon with a 1-1 draw at Eastern Illinois University, extending the team’s unbeaten streak to nine matches.
 
USI Women’s Soccer (5-5-4, 2-0-3 OVC) and Eastern Illinois (7-4-3, 4-0-1 OVC) each gained a point and remained unbeaten in Ohio Valley Conference play with Thursday’s tie. USI is up to nine points in conference play, while EIU sits at the top of the standings with 13 points.
 
The Screaming Eagles totaled eight shots with a pair on goal. Senior forward Peyton Murphy scored her third goal of the season in the second half off an assist by senior forward Emerson Grafton. Murphy had a team-high three shots in the match. Murphy is the fourth Screaming Eagle to score three times this season, and the goal on Thursday placed Murphy inside the top 15 in USI history with 35 career points.
 
Thursday’s first half was a balanced contest with the game settling into a battle for possession. The two teams combined for only five first-half shots. Murphy and senior midfielder Emma Thurston accounted for two USI shots in the opening 45 minutes. USI redshirt junior goalkeeper Anna Markland saved one shot by the Panthers in the middle of the half. The game went into the break scoreless.
 
Shortly after halftime, Eastern Illinois struck first with a goal nearly five minutes into the second half. The Panthers scored off a post rebound following a corner kick.
 
The Screaming Eagles responded nearly six minutes later in the 56^th minute with the goal by Murphy. The goal came off a long midfield free kick by freshman defender Tierney Mullady that landed in the box. Off a defensive deflection, the ball was flicked over by Grafton to Murphy on the wing and near the end line. Murphy put the ball across the face of the goal and into the far-post side netting from the tough side angle.
 
The game remained knotted at one despite USI generating more quality looks in the second half. Then, Markland came up with another crucial save in the 69^th minute to keep the match tied. Neither side produced a shot in the final 10 minutes.
 

 Aces face Panthers and Bulldogs

 EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Looking to build off last weekend’s win over Indiana State, the University of Evansville volleyball team takes to the road to face UNI and Drake. The Purple Aces and Panthers meet at 6 p.m. Friday before taking on the Bulldogs on Saturday at 4 p.m.; both matches will be televised on ESPN+.

Recapping the Weekend

– Evansville split a pair of MVC contests last weekend dropping a 3-0 match to Belmont on Friday before defeating Indiana State by a 3-1 final on Saturday

– Freshman Ryan Scheu averaged 3.57 kills while hitting .426 in the two matches while Holland Morris chipped in 3.14 kills/set

Up to Third

– Kora Ruff currently stands at 3,500 career assists, which is third in program history

– She is 377 behind Ellen Sawin for second in the UE record books

– Ruff averaged 10.57 assists last weekend and currently ranks second in the Valley with her season average of 8.02

Hitting .400

– Ryan Scheu led the Aces offense last weekend averaging 3.57 kills while hitting an unreal .426

– She had just one error in each match and hit a season-high .545 versus Belmont

– Scheu is second on the team and 19th in the MVC with 2.51 kills per set and is 15th in the conference hitting .281 on the season

– Her season mark of 15 kills came against Middle Tennessee State

Leading the Way

– Hinsley Everett continues to lead the team with 2.56 kills per set (18th in the MVC)

– Her top match came against MTSU where she finished with 17 kills

– Everett has at least six kills in 14 out of 16 matches

On a Roll

– Since entering the lineup at the start of MVC play, Holland Morris has increased her kill total in each contest

– After opening with one and eight kills in the opening MVC weekend, Morris registered 10 versus Belmont before resetting her career high to 12 in the win over Indiana State

Scouting the Opposition

– UNI enters the weekend with an 11-5 mark while going 4-0 in league action

– Cassidy Hartman and Lily Dykstra are second and third in the MVC kills rankings with averages of 3.87 and 3.67

– Drake is 5-10 overall and 1-3 through the opening two Valley weekends

– They are led by Macy Daufeldt’s 3.22 kills per game