EVANSVILLE, Ind. – A busy weekend is on tap for the University of Evansville volleyball team with three matches in four days. The Purple Aces take to the road on Friday and Saturday for matches at Loyola and Valparaiso before coming home on Monday for a 6 p.m. contest against Bradley inside Meeks Family Fieldhouse.
It's Official
- Fernando Morales was named the full-time head coach at the University of Evansville on October 30, 2019
- Morales joined the program as an assistant in 2018 before being elevated to interim head coach in the spring of 2019
- The native of Puerto Rico led the Aces to their best start in nine seasons while seeing his played break numerous program records
Weekend Recap
- Evansville fell in a pair of weekend matches against Drake and UNI, dropping each match in five sets
- The Bulldogs took a 2-0 lead on Friday before the Aces stormed back with wins in the third and fourth games; Drake clinched the win with a 15-8 decision in the fifth set
- On Saturday, it was the Aces taking the early advantage, winning the first two games against the Panthers
- UNI rallied with two wins to force another fifth set, edging UE by a 15-12 final
- Alondra Vazquez led the offense over the weekend with 4.20 kills while Allana McInnis notched 11.10 assists per set
- Gabriela Macedo broke the program single-match dig mark against Drake, tallying 46
Top Rankings
- UE is not only near the top of the conference rankings in several categories, but is also impressive on a national scale
- With 39.28 attacks per set, the Aces offense ranks fourth in the nation
- Led by Gabriela Macedo's 5.89 digs per set, the Aces average 17.84 per game
- That total is 10th in the NCAA and third in the Valley
- Macedo's tally paces the MVC and is 6th in the country
- Evansville is fourth in the league and 47th in the NCAA with 12.53 assists per set while the teams kill total of 13.38/game is 51st nationally and fourth in the conference
- Individually, Melanie Feliciano is second in the Valley with 4.26 kills per set; she ranks 30th in the nation in that stat and is the #2 freshman
- Feliciano's season total of 395.0 points is 21st in the country
- UE's freshman is 19th in the NCAA in total kills with 362 while Rachel Tam is 23rd with a total of 347
- Allana McInnis is second in the conference with 10.79 assists per set; her average is 30th in the NCAA while her total of 917 helpers in 2019 is the 6th-highest tally in the NCAA
- Hannah Watkins paces UE with 1.04 blocks per game; that is third in the MVC
Digging into the Record Book
- Fresh off of another record-breaking performance, University of Evansville senior Gabriela Macedo was recognized by the Missouri Valley Conference with her third Defensive Player of the Week award.
- Macedo set a program single-match dig record while posting the second-most in MVC history with 46 digs on Friday against Drake; for the weekend, Macedo averaged an unbelievable 6.70 digs per set with a total of 67 in ten sets of work
- Macedo's 46 digs against the Bulldogs was the most in any 5-set match in the NCAA in 2019
- For the season, Macedo is averaging 5.89 per set; her total leads the MVC and is 6th in the country
Scouting the Opposition
- Loyola will be the first opponent of the weekend and comes into the match with a 15-8 overall mark while going 8-2 through their first 10 MVC matches
- Addie Barnes and Taylor Venuto lead the Ramblers with 2.98 and 2.85 kills per set, respectively
- Maddy Moser leads the way with 5.05 digs per game
- Valparaiso starts the weekend with an 8-16 record and stand at 3-7 in the Valley
- Offensively, Peyton McCarthy has a team-best 2.90 kills per set while Rylee Cookerly provides a steady force on the defensive side of the ball, averaging 5.12 digs
- Bradley is 10-11 on the season but have improved in league play, going 6-4 so far
- Hannah Thompson has a team-high 3.17 kills per frame while Rachel Pranger checks in at 2.96
- Hannah Thompson paces the Braves with 4.81 digs
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