VUVB’s offensive efficiency helps lead Blazers to Region 24 win over Lake Land

VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University volleyball team remained unbeaten in Region 24 play after defeating Lake Land College, 25-9, 25-8, 25-18, Wednesday night.

VU returned to their home floor for the first time in 11 days and defended their home floor well against the Lakers.

Vincennes opened the match by scoring 10 of the first 12 points and continued to build to a 21-7 advantage.

VUVB would close out the first set strong, taking the opening set 25-9.

The Blazers continued to roll in to the second set, scoring 12 of the first 14 points of the set, behind some well-placed serves by freshmen Hannah Graber (Montgomery, Ind.) and Addison Ainscough (Cannelburg, Ind.).

Vincennes looked overpowered in set two, building a 23-7 lead before taking the set 25-8 to take a 2-0 match lead.

VU continued to look strong midway through the third set, well on their way to a sweep while holding a 13-6 lead.

The Lakers fought back however and to cut the Trailblazer lead to just three points.

Vincennes bounced back and closed out the third set by scoring five of the final six points, winning the set and the match 25-18.

"We just served really well. I know we only came away with three aces, but I don't think you can judge how a team served just on the number of aces," VUVB head coach Gary Sien said. "We targeted certain players and took them out of the offense and really effected their passing."

"Our serving game was extremely good. I would use the word surgical, because we really hit a majority of the passers that we wanted to target and that's tough to do," Sien added. "Our defense read them extremely well also. Lake Land was trying to tip the ball on us and our two middle backs Amee Beedle and Addison Ainscough did an extremely good job of going from corner to corner and covering all kinds of tips, which means they were really prepared to play."

The Trailblazers were led offensively by Addison Ainscough and fellow freshman Jagoda Szybinska (Poznan, Poland).

Ainscough would finish with her fifth double-double of the season, ending with a team-high 11 kills and 10 digs. Ainscough would also add an ace and a block assist to her totals and a .375 hitting percentage.

Szybinska also reached double-digit kills, finishing with 10 on the night, while also contributing three digs and two block assists and a .471 hitting percentage.

Sophomores Jamie Russell (East St. Louis, Ill.) and Emilie Cornelson (Saskatoon, Canada) controlled the net both on offense and defense for the Blazers.

Russell finished with seven kills offensively and a team-high three block assists on the defensive side.

Cornelson ended her night five kills and a team-high three block assists. Cornelson also finished the match with no hitting errors, giving her a .714 hitting percentage on the night.

Freshman setters Hannah Graber and Josephine Mulligan (Saint John, Ind.) ran the VU offense, with Graber ending the match with 19 set assists and Mulligan adding 14.

The VUVB offense was very efficient hitting the ball against the Lakers, finishing with a .298 hitting percentage as a team.

Defensively the Blazers were led by sophomores Amee Beedle (Wheaton, Ill.) and Grace Earp (Mattoon, Ill.).

Beedle led VU with 13 digs on the night, with Earp finishing right behind her with 12. Earp would also add a pair of set assists to her line score.

"Hitting nearly .300, that's exceptional against a good team," Sien said. "We always say, if we pass on-point, it's hard to stop us on offense because of the type of players that we have out there."

"Our setters made some really good choices tonight, holding their middle blockers as long as possible so we were hitting against one blocker instead of two," Sien added. "One hitter going up against one blocker, the advantage is to the hitter and that's the definition of being 'in system' offensively."

The Blazers will hit the road this weekend for a pair of Region 24 matches. Starting Friday, Oct. 1 when VU travels to take on Wabash Valley at 7 p.m. eastern.

Vincennes will follow that with a rematch with Lake Land College in Mattoon, Ill, Saturday, Oct. 2 at 2 p.m. eastern.

"We can't be overconfident heading into this weekend," Sien said. "Obviously we had a really good match tonight, but that's done and the tough thing, which doesn't normally happen, is we have to face the same opponent twice in four days in Lake Land."

"Going to Wabash Valley on Friday, they are going to be tough. They returned a number of their starting players from last year. We split with them last year, so we can't just assume that they are going to lay down for us. It's going to be a pretty tough game. The nice thing with facing Wabash Valley is that it's not the long of a drive. It's under an hour, so that's almost like it's a home game."

"We have to enjoy this one the rest of the evening and then get back to work tomorrow because we are going to have two tough matches this weekend," Sien said.

Lake Land – 9  8  18  x  x

VUVB (12-3, 4-0) – 25  25  25  x  x

INDIVIDUAL STATS

Josephine Mulligan – 1 point, 1 ace, 3 digs, 14 set assists

Amee Beedle – 13 digs

Addison Ainscough – 12.5 points, 1 ace, 11 kills, 1 block assist, 10 digs

Emilie Cornelson – 6.5 points, 5 kills, 3 block assists

Jagoda Szybinska – 11 points, 10 kills, 2 block assists, 3 digs

Breanna Metzger – 2.5 points, 2 kills, 1 block assist, 2 digs

Jamie Russell – 9.5 points, 1 ace, 7 kills, 3 block assists, 4 digs

Grace Earp – 12 digs, 2 set assists

Hannah Graber – 9 digs, 19 set assists

Malgorzata Banasiak – 4 points, 3 kills, 2 block assists