EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Riding its top streak in over 15 years, the University of Evansville volleyball team looks to continues its winning ways this weekend at UNI and Drake. On Friday, the Purple Aces will take on the Panthers in a 6 p.m. contest in Cedar Falls before traveling to Des Moines for a 5 p.m. match on Saturday.
Last Time Out
- Evansville completed a 3-match home stand with its third consecutive 3-0 win by defeating Missouri State on Tuesday
- Melanie Feliciano led the way with 19 kills to help the Aces earn the sweep in impressive fashion, picking up a 25-15 victory in the third set
- Giulia Cardona added 17 kills while Alondra Vazquez picked up 10th double-double of the season with 14 kills and 11 digs
- With 39 assists in three sets, Taya Haffner upped her season average to 11.27 per set
- Kate Tsironis recorded a career-best six block assists while Rachel Basinski had her top match of the season, posting 12 digs
Big-time Homestand
- A refocused UE group entered last week's homestand with an 0-3 MVC mark, but showed what it is capable of by sweeping all three matches at Meeks Family Fieldhouse
- UE defeated Bradley and Illinois State over the weekend before picking up another 3-0 win on Tuesday over Missouri State
- The current streak is just the second time since joining the MVC in 1994 that UE has swept three MVC matches in a row...the other instance came in September of 2006 when the Aces defeated Illinois State, Indiana State and Drake
Three out of Five Ain't Bad!
- As of Oct. 13, Evansville has three of the MVC's top five kill leaders with Alondra Vazquez (4.56/set) leading the league, Giulia Cardona ranking third (3.78) and Melanie Feliciano sitting in fifth (3.49)
- No other team in the country can boast those numbers as just six other NCAA conferences even have a team with three players currently ranked in the top ten
- The closest any team comes is having three ranked in the top seven with Marist (MAAC) and San Jose State (Mountain West) doing so
Player of the Week
- Racking up 18 kills while hitting a season-high .600, Melanie Feliciano lifted UE to a 3-0 win over Illinois State on Saturday and was recognized as the MVC Player of the Week on Monday
- She followed that up with a 19-kill performance in the win over the Bears to finish the 3-match homestand averaging 5.44 kills per set while hitting .537
- Feliciano has moved into 5th place in the MVC with a season average of 3.78 per set
Block Party
- A career-high of six block assists is just the latest accomplishment this season for Kate Tsironis, has continued to raise her average
- Over the last seven matches, Tsironis has registered 5 solo blocks and 18 block assists, an average of 1.10 per set...the recent streak has upped her season mark to 0.76 per game
Record Watch?
- The 11.27 assist/set average for Taya Haffner is on pace to be one of the best in school history...it is the best for the program in the 25-point rally scoring era and currently second-best in the UE record book (since 1991) - the only one higher was a 12.01 average by Betsy Knott in 1998
- She is set to be just the third UE player since 1998 to average over 10 per set
- Alondra Vazquez currently averages 4.56 kills, which is on pace to be the best in UE history...it is also one of the best that the MVC has seen in recent years...since 2005, just two players have finished with a higher average
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