Aces head to Gamecock Classic
With a 4-game homestand in the books, the Purple Aces are back on the road, taking part in their final non-conference tournament of the season – the Gamecock Classic. Evansville joins Kennesaw State, UL Monroe, Jacksonville State and Nicholls State at the event.
Last weekend, the Aces went 1-2, but finished the Dunn Hospitality Tournament with some momentum, defeating Kent State in five sets. Mildrelis Rodriguez tied her career mark with 18 kills as the Aces earned their second win of the season.
Rodriguez matched her career-high with 18 kills in two of the last four matches as the Aces grabbed a pair of wins. She leads the squad with 84 kills on the season. Just as impressive has been her defensive ability as she has registered 78 digs this year, second on the team.
In the win over the Golden Flashes, Rocio Fortuny has the best outing of her career, setting highs in kills (16), attempts (42), assists (3) and digs (11). After missing the opening weekend of the season, Fortuny has done very well since making her return, leading the team with 2.73 kills per set. She has also notched 0.64 blocks per frame. In her six matches this year, Fortuny has notched at least six kills each time out.
Erlicia Griffith continued to be a force for Evansville as she is tied for the MVC lead with 1.36 blocks per set. That tally also ranks in the top 40 in the NCAA. Over the last four matches, Griffith notched a total of 21 blocks, including four solo. Her top match came against SEMO where she had 2 solo blocks, 9 block assists and a total of 11 for the match.
Freshman Rachel Tam is coming off of the best game of her career against Kent State, setting her season and career marks with 11 kills, 31 attempts and 12 digs. That bested her previous best of 10 kills, which came in the opening weekend against Northern Kentucky.
UE opens up the weekend against Kennesaw State with a 9 a.m. match on Friday. The Owls come into the tournament with a record of 2-8. They played better last weekend at the Georgia Challenge, finishing off the tournament with a 3-1 win over Georgia State. KSU also took Georgia Tech to five sets before falling, 3-2. Kristi Piedimonte has done a nice job on offense for KSU, recording 363 assists, an average of 9.31 per set.
The Warhawks enter the event with a 3-10 record and have dropped their last five sets. The top effort of the season for ULM came at a tournament hosted by Central Arkansas on Sept. 2-3 where they won three out of four matches. On the first day of play, ULM defeated Alcorn State and Incarnate Word before capping off the second day with a 3-2 win over host UCA.
Jacksonville State is on a roll as they prepare to host their second weekend tournament in a row. The Gamecocks are winners of five in a row and six of their last seven. Overall, JSU is 7-6, but after a tough 1-5 start to the year, they are above .500 for the first time. In last weekends home event, Jacksonville State defeated Jackson State, New Orleans, Mississippi Valley State and UAB. They also earned a mid-week win over Alcorn State before that.Allyson Zuhlke is the top offensive player for JSU, notching 3.62 kills per game.
Evansville wraps up the weekend on Saturday afternoon against Nicholls State. The Colonels start the weekend at 4-7 after falling in their last three matches in Jacksonville, Fla. Two weeks ago, they had a strong run that saw them earn three wins in a row as they defeated Alabama A&M, Louisiana-Lafayette and Southern. Brieanna Hill leads the team with 2.36 kills per set while Alexa Perry has done well on defense, notching 3.79 digs/frame.
