Final round set for Sunday

 RICHMOND, Ky. – Andres Rodriguez paced the University of Evansville men’s golf team as the Purple Aces are in fourth place with two rounds complete at the Colonel Shootout.

Rodriguez opened the tournament with a 1-under 70 before finishing his second round at The University Club at Arlington with an even 71.  His 141 is tied for 17^th place.  Next up for the Purple Aces is the duo of Luke Schneider and Omar Khalid.  They are tied for 26^th with scores of 144.

After carding a 77 in the opening 18 holes, Schneider posted a 4-under 67.  Khalid also had a nice improvement between rounds.  He posted a 75 in the first round and lowered his scored to a 2-under 69.  Bryce Conlee was fourth for the Aces.  A consistent day saw him open with a 74 before totaling a 73.  He is tied for 39^th with a 147.

Daniil Romashkin recorded scores of 76 and 72 and is tied for 50^th while Luke Price rounded out the squad with a 150.  His rounds checked in at 79 and 71.

Ben Loomis, playing as an individual from Vanderbilt, paces the individual leaderboard with a 134.  Ranking in a tie for second are Connor Gdovin and Zach Watterson of Eastern Kentucky.  They are three behind with scores of 137.

Sitting at 20-under, EKU leads the team standings by 18 over Samford.  Robert Morris is in third while the Aces are tied with Kentucky State for fourth place.  Sunday will mark the final round of the event.

Cardona posts 18 kills against the RedHawks

 EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Giulia Cardona finished with 18 kills while Melanie Feliciano and Chloe Cline added 11 and 8, respectively, as the University of Evansville volleyball team dropped a 3-1 match to Miami Ohio on Saturday at Meeks Family Fieldhouse.

Cardona added a match-high 12 digs in the contest while Feliciano recorded eight.  Cline, who hit an efficient .571, added two blocks.  Cardona and Madisyn Steele led all players with five blocks.  Lexi Owen tallied 38 assists for UE.  Ana Vetter paced Miami with 16 kills.

Set 1 – Miami 25, UE 20

Chloe Cline and Giulia Cardona assisted on a block to help the Purple Aces take a 4-1 lead out of the gate.  Melanie Feliciano added a kill to extend the lead to 11-6.  Five in a row by the RedHawks saw them tie the score at 11-11 before two errors put UE back on top.

Trailing 14-12, MU changed the course of the set, scoring five in a row to take a 17-14 edge.  Evansville got back within a point, but Miami fended off the challenge to win the set by five tallies.

Set 2 – Miami 25, UE 12

Continuing the run they had to complete the first set, Miami jumped out to a 5-2 advantage.  Up 15-10, the RedHawks scored five of the next six to go up 20-11 and took a 2-0 match lead on the strength of a 25-12 decision.

Set 3 – UE 25, Miami 22

The first three points of the set belonged to Miami before another Cardona kill got UE on the board.  Miami would lead by five points in the early moments, holding a 14-9 edge before Evansville made its move.  UE recorded five of the next six points to get back within one at 15-14.  Chloe Cline had two kills during the stretch.

Miami rebounded with three in a row to go back up by four points before establishing a 21-16 lead.  Evansville never backed down and its work paid off.  The Aces posted nine of the final ten points to extend the match to a fourth set.  Jenna Heidbreder registered a kill during the rally while back-to-back errors finished it off.

Set 4 – Miami 25, UE 22

Another fast start had MU up 4-1 and later, up 10-5.  Kills by Feliciano and Cardona saw Evansville cut the deficit to 10-8.  The RedHawks overcame the spurt by UE, taking their largest lead of the set at 16-9.  Trailing 20-13, the Aces made a final run, scoring three in a row to get back within four as Steele and Lexi Owen assisted on a block.  Miami countered with three in a row to go back up by seven, but the Aces still did not give up.

A block from Steele and an ace from Owen cut the gap back to just two points.  Unfortunately, the run came just a bit too late with the RedHawks picking up the clinching points.

VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University volleyball team closed out the 2024 Blazer Classic Saturday afternoon at the Physical Education Complex.

VU split their two games on the day after dropping a hard-fought match against No. 20-ranked Eastern Florida State College 21-25, 19-25, 19-25 before closing out the weekend tournament with a sweep over Ellsworth Community College 25-9, 25-18, 25-20.

The Trailblazers began the morning of the final day of the Blazer Classic with a very tough test against No. 20-ranked Eastern Florida State College.

The Titans got the early advantage in set one before the Blazers rode the momentum of a 13-2 scoring run to take a 17-12 lead.

Eastern Florida State would chip away at this VU lead before grabbing the momentum back with a 7-0 run ultimately leading to the Titans closing out the first set 25-21.

VU looked to bounce back and even the match in set two and found themselves ahead early with an 11-7 lead.

Eastern Florida State again answered back to take a 15-13 lead before the Blazers tied the game at 18-18.

Eastern Florida State then closed out the second set strong by scoring seven of the final eight points to take the set 25-19 and gain a 2-0 match lead.

Set three was another tightly contested back-and-forth battle with VU holding a 15-14 lead midway through the set before the Titans came away on an 11-4 run to close out the set and the match over the Blazers 25-19.

The VU offense was led by sophomore Isadora Dias (Rio Grande de Norte, Brazil) who returned to the lineup in a big way with 14 kills and eight digs against the Titans.

Sophomore Laura Tavares (Merida, Venezuela) continued her big season with seven kills, one dig and one set assist.

Sophomore Elisa Dalla Pozza (Vincenza, Italy) continues to be a force in the middle with four kills, two blocks and one dig.

Freshmen Martyna Sadowska (Pila, Poland) and Karen Kodi (West Carrollton, Ohio) round out the VU offense with Sadowska ending with two kills and two blocks and Kodi getting one kill and one dig.

Sophomore Dylan DeCoursey (Montgomery, Ind.) and freshman Rylee Edwards (Fairfield, Ill.) stepped in at the setter position for sophomore Libby Mehringer (Jasper, Ind.) who was out of the lineup Saturday.

DeCoursey led the way in the first match of the day with 13 set assists and two digs, while Edwards finished with 10 set assists, three digs and two aces.

Sophomore libero Grace Flexter (Oblong, Ill.) ran the VU back row defense with five digs, one set assist and two aces, while freshman Brooklyn Summers (Loogootee, Ind.) rounded out the VU box score with four digs in the match.

“Against a team like that you just have to be able to score,” VUVB Head Coach Gary Sien said. “Not having Libby out there was a challenge for us. She ran a one-setter offense Friday and had some pretty good numbers and did a really nice job of running our offense. Anytime you have even one new setter out there, it’s going to be challenging.”

“I think that playing a team like Eastern Florida State and playing them tough is good for us,” Sien added. “Not only because of the level of competition we are going up against, but it validates the fact that we can play with a team like that.”

VU looked to bounce back and close out the weekend strong in their second match of the day when the Blazers took on Ellsworth Community College from Iowa.

Vincennes was able to jump on the Panthers early in set one, using a massive 20-3 scoring run to pull away and take the opening set 25-9 over Ellsworth.

Set two was more of a back-and-forth battle with the two teams even at 15-15 before the Blazers closed out the set with a 10-3 run to take set two 25-18 and gain a 2-0 match lead.

Vincennes built an early lead in set three, leading 17-11 before Ellsworth began to chip away at the VU advantage.

The Panthers would continue to battle and cut the deficit down to a single point at 21-20 before the Blazers closed out strong by scoring the final four points of the match to take set three 25-20 and end the weekend with a sweep.

VU was again led by the sophomore hitting duo of Laura Tavares and Isadora Dias. Tavares led the Blazers against Ellsworth with 12 kills and three blocks, while Dias posted a double-double with 10 kills, 11 digs, one ace and one block.

Elisa Dalla Pozza also had another big game at the net with seven kills, five blocks, two aces, one dig and one set assist to really fill out the box score.

Freshman Paulina Fister (Tuszyn, Poland) and Martyna Sadowska each finished the weekend with three kills, with Fister adding three digs and Sadowska getting two blocks.

Karen Kodi rounds out the VU offense with a pair of kills in the match.

Rylee Edwards and Dylan DeCoursey continued to run the VU offense well at the setter position, with Edwards leading the way with 15 set assists, four digs and two aces, while DeCoursey finished with a double-double of 12 set assists, 10 digs and two aces.

The VU defense was again run by libero Grace Flexter who finished with a team-high 15 digs to go along with five set assists, while freshman Ashley Earp (Mattoon, Ill.) added seven digs, one set assist and one ace.

“We blocked the best overall in the first set,” Sien said. “Other things were involved like we were able to get on some service runs and were serving tough. The thing that we weren’t able to overcome completely was stopping their middle attack. We got the outsides and the right sides off and were up on them. Either we were digging them or they would make some errors but we had a hard time in the second and third sets against the middles. That made it a more competitive match. Against a good middle attack you have to put up a good block and we were just slow to react.”