Aces welcome Valparaiso and Loyola

 The final home weekend is here as the Purple Aces welcome Valparaiso and Loyola to Meeks Family Fieldhouse on Friday and Saturday for a pair of 7 p.m. matches.  Saturday’s match will be Senior Day as the Aces will recognize four players prior to the match – Erlicia Griffith, Jelena Merseli, Montana Schafer and Cathy Schreiber.

Evansville dropped a pair of matches last weekend against Drake and UNI, falling by 3-0 finals to both.  UE played extremely well against the Bulldogs, falling by finals of 25-22, 30-28 and 25-20.

Rocio Fortuny had her best weekend of play since missing three weeks of action from late September through mid-October.  The junior posted 12 kills in three-set matches against UNI and Drake over the weekend.  It was her best 2-match showing since last season when she notched 17 kills at Drake and 19 against Bradley.

Despite falling to Drake in three sets on Saturday, the Purple Aces managed to accumulate a total of 48 kills.  That is the most for Evansville in a 3-set match since notching 50 in three frames against Murray State on Sept. 10, 2013.

Junior Mildrelis Rodriguez is tied for second on UE’s squad in kills and is also second in digs.  She had 12 and 11 digs, respectively, over the weekend at UNI and Drake.  That translated to an average of 3.83 per set.  Rodriguez had a great weekend for the Aces as they fought Missouri State to the finish before earning a 3-0 win over Southern Illinois two weeks ago.  The Juana Diaz, Puerto Rico native averaged 4.00 kills per set while notching 2.33 digs per frame.  In the win over the Salukis she led all players with 14 kills as she also hit a solid .216.  She was second on the team with eight digs.

Valparaiso starts the weekend with a 15-13 overall mark and are 6-8 in the conference.  The Crusaders are one of the top defensive teams in the nation and lead the NCAA with 20.26 digs per set.  They are the only team in the country averaging over 20 digs per set.  Their offense is paced by Taylor Graboski, who sits with 3.02 kills per game.  Valparaiso swept the Aces by a 3-0 final in their first meeting of the season

Loyola starts play with a 3-22 record while standing at 2-12 in Valley matches.  The Ramblers have been playing better as of late and are winners of two of their last three matches.  They also battled the Aces to the finish in the October meeting in Chicago, falling in five sets.  Gabi Maciagowski leads the way with 2.80 kills per set.

The No. 1/9 Indiana University men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams earned three team victories in a double-dual meet against No. 13/18 Notre Dame and Cincinnati on Thursday afternoon in Bloomington, Ind. at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center.

The No. 1-ranked IU men’s team (6-0) extended their dual-meet win streak to 19-straight, beating No. 13 Notre Dame, 146-95, and Cincinnati, 146-95. The No. 9-ranked Hoosier women’s team (3-3) took down Cincinnati, 190-53, but were edged by No. 18 Notre Dame, 123-120.

Three Hoosier swimmers won two individual events on the day, with Blake Pieroni, Lilly King and Ali Rockett pacing the Indiana effort. On the day, IU won 15 individual events and three of the four relays.

Pieroni continued his stellar start to the season, posting NCAA B cut times in wins in the 100 freestyle (43.17) and 200 IM (1:47.07). Pieroni’s mark in the 200 IM ranks as the 10^th-best time in the nation this year.

King added two more wins to her season on Thursday, winning the 100 breaststroke with a NCAA B cut time of 1:00.28 and the 200 IM with a mark of 2:02.31. Rockett had a great meet for the Hoosiers, winning the 100 back with a NCAA B cut time of 53.55 and the 50 freestyle with a season-best mark of 23.17.

Mohamed Samy won the 200 freestyle with a NCAA B cut of 1:37.71, while Vini Lanza touched first in the 100 butterfly with a NCAA B cut of 47.48. Ian Finnerty continued his dominance in the 100 breast, winning with a NCAA B cut mark of 54.99.

On the women’s side, Kennedy Goss won the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:50.59 and then notched a NCAA B cut, placing second in the 200 free with a mark of 1:47.99.Christine Jensen tied for first in the 100 butterfly, touching the wall with a season-best time and NCAA B cut of 54.27.

In the diving well, Jessica Parratto and Michael Hixon were dominant, sweeping the diving events for the Hoosiers with NCAA Zones qualifying scores.

Hixon was stellar in the 3-meter dive, winning with a season-best total of 483.10 that ranks sixth all-time in Indiana program history. He also won the 1-meter dive, scoring a 398.70.

Parratto had her best meet of the year, winning with season-high scores. Parratto won the 1-meter with a total of 309.50 and the 3-meter with a 348.15.

Freshman Andrew Capobianco registered a pair of NCAA Zones qualifying scores, placing third in the 1-meter with a season-best 334.40 and fourth in the 3-meter with a season-high of 332.90. James Connor placed second in the 3-meter dive, posting a NCAA Zones qualifying mark with a season-best 392.10.

The Hoosiers made it a clean sweep in the 200 medley relay, as both the men’s and women’s relays touched first. The women’s relay of Marie Chamberlain, King, Jensen and Grace Haskett won with a time of 1:40.49. The Indiana men’s relay of Samy, Pieroni, Bruno Blaskovic and Ali Khalafalla won with a mark of 1:28.75.

In the 200 freestyle relay, the Hoosier men’s team of Blaskovic, Khalafalla, Lanza and Patrouch won with a time of 1:20.31.

The No. 1/9 Indiana University men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams will be back in action on Nov. 16-18 at the Early Bird Invitational, hosted by Purdue University.

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