One round remains on Monday

 TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Kayla Katterhenry carded a 75 to lead the University of Evansville women’s golf team in the opening round of the Indiana State Spring Invitational on Sunday.

Katterhenry’s efforts have her in a tie for 5^th place on the leaderboard, just two off of the lead, which is held by William Woods’ Lucy Matthews and Elayna Bowser of Loyola.

Next up for the Aces was Giulia Mallmann, who carded an 80 and sits in a tie for 22^nd place.  One behind her was Madison Chaney, who notched a round of 81 and is tied for 28^th.  Maggie Camp recorded an 82 in the opening round to sit tied for 33^rd while Maria Pickens notched an 89.

Individual Lexie Sollman had a strong round for the Purple Aces, totaling 82 strokes while Carly Waggoner finished Sunday’s action with a 90, also playing as an individual.

William Woods has the team lead.  Their 308 is two ahead of Western Illinois.  Indiana State and Drake are tied for third place with rounds of 315 while Butler sits in 5^th with a 316.  The Aces are in 6^th, just two out of the top five with a 318.

One more round remains on Monday morning from the Terre Haute Country Club.

UE looks ahead to Senior Day on Friday

 A pair of home matches on Saturday resulted in two 6-1 wins for the University of Evansville women’s tennis team.  The Purple Aces opened the day with a win over Bradley before defeating Taylor University at Tri-State Athletic Club.

“This loss is a tough one; not just because we had opportunities to win, but more because of how hard our team fought. We had four different sets go to tiebreaker and two, 3-set matches. For the match to come down to a 3rd set tiebreaker at #1 singles tells you just how close this match really was,” head coach Jayson Wiseman said.  “A lot of credit has to go to Illinois St. and their coaches Maja & Thiago, they had their team ready to go with a great mindset from the opening point. The put us in a hole early at #1 & #2 doubles that ultimately made the difference in the match as the took #1 easily and just held on at #2. Losing that doubles point really put us behind the 8 ball in singles, but we gave it everything we had and just came up a fraction short.

“We know we will likely see them again in our path through the MVC tournament, so we are going to refocus, look to improve moving forward, and direct all our attention to getting at win this Friday against Missouri St. on Senior Day,” Wiseman added.

Evansville’s success in singles on Sunday came from Diana Tkachenko and Andrea Pascual-Larrinaga.  Tkachenko earned the win at #2 singles while Pascual-Larrinaga won in the fifth flight.

Senior Day is set for Friday afternoon when the Purple Aces welcome Missouri State to Wesselman Park for a 1:30 p.m. match.

Tennis Match Results

Illinois State vs University of Evansville

Apr 09, 2017 at Evansville, Ind.

(Tri-State Athletic Club)

Illinois State 4, University of Evansville 3

Singles competition

1. Marcia Tere-Apisah (ILS) def. Chieko Yamada (UE) 6-0, 6-7 (0-6), 7-6 (4-0)
2. Diana Tkachenko (UE) def. Jelena Karla Vujicic (ILS) 6-4, 7-6 (4-0)
3. Gabriela Sprague (ILS) def. Daria Pentsova (UE) 6-2, 6-1
4. Valerija Gercar (ILS) def. Theodora Soldatou (UE) 6-2, 6-3
5. Andrea Pascual-Larri (UE) def. Andrea Beneroso (ILS) 6-2, 4-6, 6-2
6. Andjela Brguljan (UE) def. No player (ILS), by forfeit

Doubles competition

1. Marcia Tere-Apisah/Jelena Karla Vujicic (ILS) def. Chieko Yamada/Theodora Soldatou (UE) 6-0
2. Gabriela Sprague/Valerija Gercar (ILS) def. Diana Tkachenko/Nicoli Pereira (UE) 7-6 (6-0)
3. Andjela Brguljan/Daria Pentsova (UE) def. Andrea Beneroso/No player (ILS), by forfeit

Evansville defeats Drake, 13-5 on Sunday 

DES MOINES, Iowa – Senior Chandra Parr set the University of Evansville program record with the 31^st home run of her career as the Purple Aces softball team finished off a weekend sweep at Drake with a 13-5 victory on Sunday morning.

“I am so proud of our hitting this series, the ladies have been working really hard on some adjustments and it is paying off,” head coach Mat Mundell said.  “I also want to congratulate Chandra on breaking the school’s all-time home run record!”

Evansville (16-20, 7-5 MVC) scored its 13 runs on 17 hits while Drake (19-19, 3-9 MVC) was credited with 13 hits.

Brittany Hay led everyone with four hits on the day and also tied for the game-high with three runs scored.   Hayli Scott also crossed the plate on three occasions.  Morgan Florey made the start for UE, going five innings while giving up four runs, three earned, on nine hits.  Ashleigh Downing threw the final two frames to finish off the win.

The Aces wasted little time getting on the scoreboard as Hay started things off with a double before scoring on a Florey groundout.  The next three runs belonged to the Bulldogs as they plated one in the first and two in the second on a Sarah Maddox home run.

UE fought back with the tying runs in the third.  Another hit by Hay got things going before she scored on a Scott double.  Later, Morgan Lambert brought home Ashlee Kawall on a single to center.

History was made for UE one inning later.  With the score knotted up at 3-3, Chandra Parr led the fourth off with a solo home run to center, setting the all-time program record with 31.  It also proved to be the difference as the Aces never looked back.  In the fifth, Parr and Michal Luckett each had RBI doubles before Morgan Florey connected on her third home run of the weekend, a 3-run shot, as the Aces took a 10-4 lead.  Luckett also had an RBI knock in the inning.

Drake added single runs in the 5^th and 6^th innings, but Evansville was just too much as they plated three more in the seventh.  Two came in on a Lambert double while the scoring wrapped up for the day on a Downing single.

On Tuesday, another midweek doubleheader is on tap as the Aces welcome UT Martin to Cooper Stadium.  Game one is set for a 3 p.m. first pitch with game two to follow.