EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Men’s Soccer lost a 2-0 decision Saturday evening at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in Edwardsville, Illinois. The Screaming Eagles fall to 2-8-0 overall and 1-1-0 in the OVC, while the Cougars go to 4-3-2, 2-0-0 OVC.
 
SIUE jumped out in front early, scoring just 6:24 into the contest. USI, which was outshot, 11-5, had its best chance to even the match before halftime when senior midfielder Elmer Garcia hit the left post at 42:22.
 
In the second half, SIUE would seal the 2-0 decision with a second goal at 67:35. The Cougars controlled the final half with an 11-2 shot lead.
 
USI sophomore goalkeeper Andrew Klott faced 22 shots in the match, allowing two goals and making a career-high 12 saves.
 
NEXT UP FOR USI:
The Eagles come home for a pair of matches next week, beginning Thursday with the first-ever visit of Houston Christian University to Strassweg Field. Match time is slated for 7 p.m.
 
HCU, which hosts Liberty University Sunday night, is 4-4-2 overall and 2-0-0 in the conference. USI and HCU split their first and only meeting last year, 1-1, in Houston, Texas.
 
The homestand concludes October 13 when USI hosts the University of Incarnate Word for an 11 a.m. match. The USI-Incarnate Word match with Senior Day for the Eagles.   
 

Aces fall in five sets

MURRAY, Ky. – Another unbelievable effort saw Giulia Cardona record 31 kills as Murray State erased an 0-2 deficit to defeat the University of Evansville volleyball team in five sets on Saturday.

Cardona hit an efficient .274 in the contest while adding six digs.  Ainoah Cruz led the way with 13 digs while Kora Ruff registered 29 assists.  Four Racers had double figure kills with Ella Vogel leading the way with 18.

Game 1 – UE 25, MSU 23

Madisyn Steele’s solo block opened a 3-1 spurt by the Aces to begin the match.  Murray State took their first lead at 7-4 and continued to hold the advantage throughout the majority of the frame with the largest edge being five points at 16-11.

UE never backed down and utilized a 3-0 rally to tie it up at 20-20 with Steele and Angelica Gonzalez registering a block.  Following a point by the Racers, Steele added a kill to her tally as the Aces went up by a score of 24-22.  Giulia Cardona would pick up the clinching kill for the Aces in a 25-23 decision.

Game 2 – UE 25, MSU 19
Angelica Gonzalez recorded a kill that put the Aces up by a 3-1 tally.  Posting four of the next five points, the Racers took their first advantage at 5-4.  Once again, MSU took control as the set approached the middle portion.  Their lead grew to as many as four points at 12-8.

Just as they did in the opening set, the Aces made their way back.  Jenna Heidbreder’s ace put UE back in front at 16-15 before an ace by Maddie Hawkins set her team up with a 20-17 lead.  Evansville held strong from that point, clinching the set on a kill by Steele.

Game 3 – MSU 25, UE 22

Murray State had the upper hand throughout most of the third game.  With the game tied at 3-3, the Racers scored three in a row.  Following a point by Evansville, MSU came right back to take an 11-5 lead.  The 6-point deficit did not deter UE as a 6-1 stretch got them right back within a point.  Heidbreder completed the stretch with a kill.

Gonzalez added another kill to her total to tie the game at 15-15.  Two in a row by the Racers got them back on track and they would outduel UE to take the game, however, the Aces still held a 2-1 match lead.

Game 4 – MSU 25, UE 12

After MSU took a 3-1 edge, Gonzalez and Steele combined on a block to cut the gap to a point.  The Racers fended off the challenge and came back to go up 9-4 and would add to the lead from there, winning by a 25-12 margin to force a fifth set.

Game 5 – MSU 15, UE 6

It was all Racers in the fifth as they reeled off the first eight points before winning by a final of 15-6 to seal the match.

VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University volleyball team finished out another packed weekend of competition by sweeping their two matches Saturday to close out the 2024 Showdown on the Wabash tournament.

VU began the day with a three-set sweep over St. Louis Community College 25-19, 25-13, 25-18 before closing out the tournament with a sweep over Calhoun Community College 25-11, 25-18, 25-14.

Vincennes got the morning started off strong against St. Louis C.C., scoring the first six points of the match to open an early lead.

The Archers would answer back and even the score at 7-7 before VU built their lead back to 19-12 later in the set.

St. Louis fought hard in the first set but were unable to overcome the deficit as Vincennes grabbed set one of the day 25-19 to take an early 1-0 match lead.

VU began set two the same way set one began, opening the set with seven straight points and building a commanding 12-2 advantage over St. Louis.

The Archers would again battle but were unable to cut into the VU lead as a late 6-0 scoring run helped seal VU’s set two victory 25-13, giving the Blazers a 2-0 lead in the match.

St. Louis looked determined to avoid the sweep early in set three, holding their first lead of the match and gaining a quick 9-4 advantage over VU, before the Blazers rallied back with an 8-1 scoring run to take a 12-10 lead.

The two teams traded points and small scoring runs before VU closed out the set by scoring six of the final seven points to take set three 25-18 and complete the sweep over the Archers.

“We always talk about with these two day tournaments at this level that there are not many hours between our last match yesterday and our first match today,” VUVB Head Coach Gary Sien said. “It’s not a lot of time to recover physically, mentally and emotionally. So these weekends are always a great challenge just because of the schedule.”

“It definitely says a lot about this team that after losing an emotional match last night and come back today and respond in such a great way,” Sien added. “They could have easily just not shown up today and gone through the motions. This game is so mental and emotional. When you touch that ball even for that microsecond, it has to be perfect and if your mind is not right, it can be pretty off. No other sport has that.”

The VU offense was led by sophomores Laura Tavares (Merida, Venezuela) and Elisa Dalla Pozza (Vincenza, Italy) against the Archers.

Tavares led the team with nine kills, three digs and one block, while Dalla Pozza came away with eight kills, three digs, two blocks and one ace.

Tournament set for Monday and Tuesday

 EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Up next for the University of Evansville men’s golf team is a trip to Lexington, Ky. for the Cullan Brown Collegiate.

Hosted at Lexington Country Club, the tournament is set for Monday and Tuesday.  The field includes Bellarmine, Belmont, Chattanooga, Eastern Kentucky, Evansville, Kennesaw State, Kentucky, Mercer, Morehead State, North Alabama, Purdue Fort Wayne, South Alabama, Toledo, and Western Kentucky.  Par is 71 and the yardage is 7,280.

Earlier this week, the Purple Aces took part in the Bubba Barnett Intercollegiate in Jonesboro, Ark.  Andres Rodriguez was the top finisher for UE, tying for 40^th.  Over three rounds of play, he recorded a 219 with his low round (1-under 71) coming in the second 18 holes.

Omar Khalid finished two strokes behind Rodriguez with a 221.  He matched Rodriguez’ tally in the second round, recording a 71.  Daniil Romashkin completed the top three for Evansville.  His 229 tied him for 69^th place.  He opened the event with a 71.

As a team, UE came home in 15^th place