Cardona records 18 kills and 5 aces in the victory
 EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Freshman Giulia Cardona recorded 18 kills, 13 digs and 5 service aces to lift the University of Evansville volleyball team to a hard-fought 3-1 victory over Southern Illinois on Monday evening inside Meeks Family Fieldhouse.
Cardona had five of Evansville’s (17-6, 7-5 MVC) seven aces with Taya Haffner recording the other two. Haffner recorded 37 assists along a career-best four kills in the win. Alondra Vazquez picked up her 13th double-double of the fall, leading the team with 15 digs while totaling 10 kills. Melanie Feliciano continued her recent dominance on the offensive end, finishing with 15 kills. It marked her 8th match in a row with 14 or more kills.
Madisyn Steele continued her success in the middle, posting her fourth solo block of the season while tying her career mark with five block assists. Steele also contributed five kills. Southern Illinois (5-21, 0-13 MVC) was led by Nataly Garcia, who had 12 kills.
Set 1 – UE 25, SIU 18
Taya Haffner helped Evansville take an early 7-5 lead with her first kill of the evening. Madisyn Steel and Alondra Vazquez added kills to push the advantage to 12-8. The Salukis battled back, getting within two points on multiple occasions before the Aces extended their lead to earn the win. Up 18-16, Evansville wrapped up the frame on a 7-2 run to take a 25-18 win. Haffner recorded consecutive service aces before Melanie Feliciano posted two late kills to finish off the set.
Set 2 – UE 25, SIU 19
Southern Illinois stormed out to a 5-0 lead to begin the second frame. Facing its largest deficit of the night, UE put together a rally of its own, scoring 14 of the next 17 points to turn the tides in their favor at 14-8. With the Salukis still up by five points at 8-3, Evansville would score 11 in a row to go in front. Anchoring the run was Giulia Cardona, who picked up three service aces. Despite the Aces rally, SIU continued to fight as they would tie the set at 16-16 on a UE error. Evansville retook a 21-19 edge and would go on to score the final four points to take a 2-0 match lead with a 25-19 win.
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Set 3 – SIU 25, UE 19
Another strong start by the Salukis saw them take an 8-4 lead to begin the third game. The Aces closed to within two points at 9-7 on a Cardona kill, but SIU countered with five in a row to take their largest lead at seven points. Evansville got as close as four points when a Feliciano kill made it an 18-14 game, but SIU answered every time and picked up their first set win of the evening by a 25-19 final.
Set 4 – Loyola 25, UE 18
For the third set in a row, it was Southern Illinois jumping out in front. A 5-0 start was capped off by an ace from Anna Jaworski. On the other end, it was a service ace that propelled Evansville into the lead when the fourth of the night by Giulia Cardona was part of a 9-2 run to give the Aces a 9-7 advantage. From that point on, the Aces would slowly add to the advantage before wrapping up the set with a 25-16 decision and a 3-1 match victory. Madisyn Steele added her fifth kill of the contest to help her team pull away at the finish.
Next up for UE is a road swing through central Illinois. The road trip begins with a 6 p.m. match at Illinois State on Friday before the Aces face Bradley in a 5 p.m. match-up on Saturday in Peoria.
