MOREHEAD, Ky. – It was another exceptional day of action for the University of Evansville volleyball team, who rolled to a pair of victories in the first day of the Eagle Challenge in Morehead, Kentucky.
 
Evansville, who improved to a perfect 5-0 record, defeated Morehead State by a 3-1 final to open play on Friday morning before picking up a 3-0 sweep over Radford in the afternoon.  The Eagles are coming off of a 17-2 record in the spring where they earned the Ohio Valley Conference Championship before defeating Creighton in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.

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Match One Box Score (PDF)  -  Match Two Box Score (PDF)

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"Morehead State was big for us.  A team that won the conference and won a NCAA tournament match gave us a lot of confidence going to the Radford game," Purple Aces head coach Fernando Morales exclaimed.  "Today shows us how deep we are, we have two players that started last weekend out due to quarantine and the other players stepped up and helped us get these two wins."
 
Match 1 – UE 3, Morehead State 1
A balanced offensive attack saw Giulia Cardona, Alondra Vazquez and Melanie Feliciano finish with double digit kills to pace the University of Evansville volleyball team to a 3-1 win over defending Ohio Valley Conference Champion Morehead State on Friday morning.
 
Taking on a Morehead State team that went 17-2 in the spring, the Purple Aces grabbed the early momentum in the first set, taking a 4-1 lead with Cardona tallying three kills.  The Eagles fought back to tie it up at 6-6, but with the score knotted at 11-11, Evansville made its run.  Taking advantage of a handful of MSU errors, the Aces scored five in a row to go up 16-11.  UE continued to roll from there, cementing a 25-21 win on a Vazquez kill.
 
Game two saw UE take another early lead as a Cecilia Thon kill helped lift the team to a 3-1 edge.  Morehead State clawed away at the deficit, eventually tying it up at 9-9 on an Irene Wogenstahl kill.  That run was part of a 6-0 stretch by the Eagles as they wrestled away a 13-9 lead.  Evansville answered in a big way, embarking on a run of its own.  The Aces scored eight in a row to change the course of the set.  Thon's flawless serving, coupled with kills by Cardona, Kate Tsironis and Vazquez, were pivotal to the rally. 
 
The Eagles staged another comeback, tying the set up at 21-21.  After seven further ties led to a 28-28 score, it was junior Hannah Watkins taking over.  Her second kill of the set broke the stalemate before her service ace clinched the set by a 30-28 final.  A key part to the late rally was that Evansville never let MSU take the lead.
 
Already up by a 2-0 score in the match, UE was on fire to begin the third game, posting the first four points.  The Eagles fought right back, tying it at 5-5 before using a 4-0 run to go up by a score of 12-8.  Evansville kept the Eagles within striking distance, cutting their lead to 20-19 on a Cardona service ace, but MSU used a late run to take a 25-20 decision and cut the Evansville match lead to 2-1.
 
An exciting match saw the first three sets come down to the wire and the fourth game was no different.  Once again, it was the Aces jumping out to the early advantage with a Thon service ace contributing to a 3-0 lead.  MSU took its first lead at 6-5 before a rally by UE was capped off by a Watkins kill to give her team a 10-7 edge.  The Aces controlled the middle part of the set and would extend the lead to 20-17 when Laura Ruiz picked up her first ace of the day.  Morehead State tied it up with three in a row, but three errors helped Evansville push the lead to 24-21.  That is when Melanie Feliciano put an exclamation point on the match with her 10^th kill to clinch the fourth win in a row for her squad.
 
Cardona led UE with 16 kills while Vazquez and Feliciano finished with 12 and 10, respectively.  Cecilia Thon tallied 34 assists while Blakeley Freeman picked up 18 digs.  Thon and Vazquez added 13 and 12.  Watkins got the job done in the middle, registering a match-high seven block assists to go along with five kills.  Morehead State was paced by Abby Hulsman, who tallied 28 kills.
 
Match 2 – UE 3, Radford 0
Finishing with a match-high 12 kills, Alondra Vazquez led the Purple Aces to a 3-0 sweep over Radford in the second contest at the Eagle Challenge.  Vazquez added 10 digs for her second double-double of the day.  Melanie Feliciano added seven kills.  Cecilia Thon posted 21 helpers.
 
Things did not go Evansville's way out of the gate as the Highlanders jumped out to a 5-1 lead.  A focused UE squad was not phased and quickly rebounded, using a 6-0 rally to open up a 9-6 lead.  Kills by Kate Tsironis, Vazquez and Feliciano paced the run.  Evansville added to its advantage, going up 16-9 on a Vazquez kill before the Highlanders stormed back.  A 7-1 stretch cut Evansville's lead to just one (17-16), but UE regrouped to complete the set on a 7-2 run to take the set, 25-18.  Giulia Cardona capped off the set with an ace.
 
A furious late rally in the second set was key to the Purple Aces grabbing a 25-12 victory.  After a Taylor O'Neal kill brought Radford within a point at 8-7, Evansville quickly responded 6-0 run that saw Vazquez pick up two aces.  From there, UE kept the pressure on, completing the frame on what would turn into a 17-5 stretch.  Chloe Bontrager got the final stretch started with her kill helping UE reel off the final six tallies.
 
With a huge run to finish the second set, Evansville rolled in the third.  After Radford made it a 5-4 game, the Aces countered with eight points in a row.  Cardona added two aces in the run.  Evansville's lead moved into double figures at 15-5 before the group sealed the match with a 25-13 decision. 
 
On Saturday, UE will finish up the tournament with a 10 a.m. CT match against Cleveland State.  A win would give the Aces their first 6-0 start to a season since opening up the 1981 campaign with a 10-win streak.
 

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