With the regular season concluded, the sixth-seeded University of Evansville women’s soccer team has its sights set on the postseason with a matchup with No. 3 seeded UNI in the opening round of the 2018 Missouri Valley Conference Championship in Cedar Falls, Iowa at Noon on Sunday.

In the MVC Championship, the Purple Aces have seen plenty of recent success in postseason play. Dating back to 2013, Evansville has won at least one match in the championship, including a tournament championship in 2015.

Sunday’s match marks just the second time that the Aces and Panthers have met in the MVC Championship. In the only previous postseason meeting, UE picked up a 1-0 win over UNI in the semifinals of the 2015 MVC Championship in route to capturing the tournament championship and an NCAA Tournament berth.’

The two sides earlier season meeting went the way of the Panthers, who earned a 3-0 win over Evansville on October 5 at Arad McCutchan Stadium. On Sunday, the Aces and UNI will meet for the 21st time with Evansville holding a 13-5-2 advantage in the all-time series. The winner of the opening round contest will head to Chicago, Ill. to face No. 2 Drake in the semifinals of the MVC Championship on Friday at 3:30 p.m. at Loyola Socce

The Purple Aces return to the field at home, a place where Evansville has seen success this season. UE is 3-7-6 overall on the season, but holds a 3-1-4 mark in matches played at Arad McCutchan Stadium. On the year, the lone loss for the Aces at home came to No. 2 Indiana on September 21. Coming into the match, Evansville is unbeaten in five-straight matches at home.

Saturday evening’s match is the final regular season match at Arad McCutchan Stadium in 2018 for the Aces. In home finales, Evansville has won four-straight with its last loss in its final home match of the season coming in 2013.

On Saturday, the Aces and Crusaders will meet for the seventh time with Evansville holding a 3-2-1 advantage in the all-time series. In last season’s matchup, Valparaiso earned the 2-1 win over UE in Valparaiso, Ind. on October 7. The Aces are undefeated at home against the Crusaders with a 3-0-1 record in matches played at Arad McCutchan Stadium. Heading into Saturday’s match, Valparaiso is 4-7-3 overall and 1-1-2 in Missouri Valley Conference action and are currently on a four-match unbeaten streak that includes draws with Loyola and Central Arkansas. Offensively, the Crusaders are powered by Lucca Lacerda, who has scored four goals to go along with one assists for Valparaiso this season. In goal, Nacho Miras has appeared in 13 matches, making 36 saves while recording a 1.19 goals-against average.

Both teams have the ability to clinch a spot in the 2018 MVC Championship on Saturday evening. With a win, Evansville would secure itself a berth in the tournament, while a win or tie would lock the Crusaders into the championship.

UE falls in 5-set match

On a night where she was honored for recording the 1,000^th dig and kill of her career, senior Mildrelis Rodriguez set her career mark with 29 kills as the University of Evansville volleyball team dropped a hard-fought 3-2 match against Bradley inside Meeks Family Fieldhouse.

Rodriguez eclipsed her previous mark of 23 kills, which also came against Bradley in 2016.  She also had 21 digs for UE (8-17, 2-10 MVC).  Alondra Vazquez notched 13 kills and 18 digs while Kerra Cornist added 10 kills.  Olivia Goldstein led the defense with a career-high 30 digs while Allana McInnis posted 51 assists.  As a team, the Aces had eight service aces as Rodriguez and Cecilia Thon notched two each.  Joselyn Coronel added five block assists.  Bradley (19-5, 9-3 MVC) saw Erica Haslag notch 24 kills while Hannah Angeli posted 49 helpers.  Five Braves players finished with double figure digs.

After being recognized for her milestone, Rodriguez responded in the early going for the Purple Aces.  After UE fell in a 7-4 hole, Rodriguez’ 5^th kill of the night capped off a 5-0 run that saw Evansville take its first lead at 9-7.

Bradley responded with four in a row to go up 11-9, but an ace by Allana McInnis put UE back in front as the Aces added to it to go up 17-14.  The Braves tied it back up once again before four ties led to a 21-21 score.  BU forced a pair of Evansville errors to go up 23-21 before Rodriguez’ 9^th kill along with a block assist knotted the score right back up at 23 all.  From there, BU posted the final two points to open the evening with a 25-23 victory.

Evansville jumped out to a 3-0 lead in game two, but the Braves reeled off four in a row to take their first lead at 4-3.  A Rachel Tam service ace coupled with a block assist by Kerra Cornist and McInnis saw UE retake a 9-7 advantage.  The teams swapped the lead before UE was able to wrestle away a 20-17 advantage on back-to-back kills by Kerra Cornist.  Bradley found some late magic once again as they rallied back to win by a 25-23 final.

In the third frame, the Braves took a 9-6 lead, but UE would get within a single tally at 9-8 on a triple block from Joselyn Coronel, McInnis and Rodriguez.  With BU up 12-11, they would add to the advantage and go up by a 16-11 score thanks to four points in a row.  UE never let the deficit deter their efforts and it paid off as a service ace from Olivia Goldstein got her squad back within one at 19-18.  On the next point, a Braves error would tie it up before the 18^th kill from Rodriguez put the lead in the Aces hands.  Alondra Vazquez consecutive kill in a late run that saw the Aces take a 25-21 win.

The Braves scooted out to a 4-0 lead in the fourth set before extending it to 7-2.  UE used its defense to close back in with two blocks in a row.  Bradley ended the run and responded by extending its lead to 14-8.  Evansville battled back as an ace by Elena Redmond made it a 15-12 contest in favor of the Braves.  The Aces kept plugging away as a Bradley error cut their lead to just a point at 20-19.  Another Rodriguez kill tied it up at 21-21 and was followed by a Rocio Fortuny kill that put UE in front.  UE held on from there, forcing a fifth set with a 25-22 triumph.

After BU scored the first two points of the fifth game, Fortuny notched her 7^th kill of the night to get UE on the board.  A Cecilia Thon service ace tied it up before Rodriguez registered two more kills to give the Aces 8-6 lead.  UE went up by a 10-7 tally before Bradley roared back with four in a row to retake an 11-10 edge.  Fortuny put the lead right back on UE’s side as a kill made it a 12-11 game.  The decisive stretch came as BU notched three in a row to go up 14-13.  After a UE point, the Brave scored the final point to clinch the match.