Aces compete to the finish
  It was Mildrelis Rodriguez pacing the University of Evansville offense once against as the Purple Aces volleyball team came up just short at Illinois State on Saturday night.
Rodriguez had a team-best nine kills and also led UE (5-23, 1-14 MVC) with 11 digs. Joselyn Coronel had a solid night, posting nine digs and four kills. Jelena Mersei notched 20 assists. Three Redbirds (16-10, 10-5 MVC) notched double digit kills, led by Ella Francis’ game-high of 12.
Illinois State began the night with a 25-16 win. Evansville fell behind by a 10-3 margin, but picked up momentum in cutting the gap to 11-7. Trailing 21-16, UE gave up the final four tallies as ISU took a 1-0 lead.
Evansville had a pair of early leads in the second game before the Redbirds wrestled away a 13-9 lead. They added to it from there, taking a 25-18 victory.
The never-give-up attitude of the Aces was evident in the third set as they overcame an early 5-1 deficit to fight back to trail by just one at 9-8. Cathy Schreiber had a service ace in the rally. Just a few points later, the Aces tied it up at 13-13. The pivotal moment came after UE made it a 19-17 game. Illinois State scored three in a row and fended off the challenge to clinch the match with a 25-20 win.
On Friday night, UE is back home to face Southern Illinois in a 7 p.m. match.
