Trailblazers overcome slow start to pick up Region 24 win over John A. Logan

VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University Trailblazer volleyball team extended their winning streak and their Region 24 winning streak Wednesday after defeating John A. Logan College in four sets 23-25, 25-14, 25-20, 25-18.

The Trailblazers opened the match at home on a high note, jumping out to an early 10-4 lead, before the Volunteers used a pair of 5-0 scoring runs to rally back to take the lead.

Vincennes tried to recover on their home floor but were unable to recapture the lead as John A. Logan took set one over the Blazers 25-23.

VU again would grab an early lead in the second set, building a 13-5 lead and growing into a 20-10 advantage.

John A. Logan looked to answer back late in the set but were unable to close the margin as VU took set two 25-14 and evened the match at one set each.

Looking to complete the momentum swing in a pivotal third set, the Trailblazers were the first to build a lead after a quick 3-0 scoring run gave the Blazers a 16-12 advantage on the scoreboard.

VU would continue to add pressure late in the third set with a late 4-0 scoring run and come away with the set win 25-20 and take a 2-1 match lead.

The Volunteers entered the fourth set looking to force a fifth and quickly used a 6-0 scoring run to build a three-point lead.

John A. Logan would hold this lead until Vincennes rallied back with a 5-0 scoring run of their own to make the score 15-13.

John A. Logan would cut the deficit to one-point late in the set but the Trailblazers closed out the match in style on a 6-0 scoring run to take set four 25-18 and the match 3-1.

The win extends the Trailblazers overall winning streak to 11 matches, while also increasing their Region 24 winning streak to 21.

The win also clinches Vincennes the No. 1 seed in the Region 24 tournament Friday, Oct. 28 and Saturday, Oct. 29, hosted at the P.E. Complex.

"We just had to stop making mistakes," VUVB Head Coach Gary Sien. "Except for the second set, which I thought was pretty decisive from beginning to end, it seemed like we had a lot of leads, that we just gave right back to John A. Logan. In the first set, we had a big lead early on and we were rolling, then we just stopped doing certain things that we were doing really well."

"John A. Logan is a much-improved team from the first time we saw them and we knew it," Sien added. "Anytime you play somebody for the second or third time, you know going into it that they are going to be better. We got off to what is becoming our typical slow start in the first set. Even though we started out well, we just didn't finish. So I guess there was some progress there because we started out pretty strong."

"There were certain things that we wanted to do and then for the next three sets we did them," Sien said. "It all comes back to serving strong, targeting players and blocking. There were times early on where we struggled to stop their middle attack. They have a pretty nice middle attack, typically Logan trains their middles well. But then we got them later on and they weren't setting the middles as much."

"We got a hand on a lot of shots at the net," Sien added. "I thought we were close to getting another eight to 10 blocks tonight. Even if we had only gotten half of those, it could have possibly been a quicker match. It's still always about us that we at times struggle with. We are still trying to figure it out. I do give a lot of credit to the team that they do know about our slow starts. They are very much aware of it and are working on getting a better, stronger mindset from the beginning of the match. The good news is that we know about it, the not so good news is that we still have a little ways to go still with that."

The Trailblazers were led offensively by the freshman duo of Paige Parlanti (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Audrey Buis (Franklin, Ind.). Parlanti ended the night with her 18th double-double and third 20-20 match of the season with 21 kills, 23 digs, two aces, one set assist and a block.

Buis also reached double-digit kills, finishing with 15 kills on a .303 hitting percentage, five digs and a block.

Freshman Alexis Chrappa (Effingham, Ill.) had a very nice all-around match with eight kills, five digs and four blocks.

Sophomore Malgorzata Banasiak (Gdynia, Poland) and freshman Nisa Salis (Ankara, Turkey) were next in the order with Banasiak finishing with six kills and a pair of blocks and Salis ending the night with four kills, two blocks and two digs.

Freshman Tuana Turhan (Ankara, Turkey) and sophomore Hannah Graber (Montgomery, Ind.) rounded out the VU offense, each recording two kills for the match. Turhan had a big night leading the Blazers with five blocks and four aces, while also adding six digs.

Graber led the Blazers from the setter position, setting up the offense to a team-high 25 set assists, along with seven digs and two aces.

Sophomore setter Josephine Mulligan (Saint John, Ind.) also came away with a good day setting the ball, finishing with 21 set assists, seven digs and an ace.

Freshman libero Morgan Netcott (Montague, Mich.) and sophomore Lara Gomes de Castro (Sao Paulo, Brazil) controlled the VU backrow defense with Netcott leading the Blazers with 28 digs and two set assists, while Gomes de Castro added 13 digs and one ace.

"Our pins played really well tonight," Sien said. "Audrey and Paige really carried the load for us out there tonight. Alexis had a really nice match too. It wasn't just about her hitting and blocking for Alexis, I thought she played some good defense as well. When you are the off blocker, that is at times really tough to play."

"Lara had a couple of major hustle plays, going way off the court to get a ball and then we won the rally," Sien added. "When we are that scrappy and we go after every single ball, it's kind of the other part of the game. You can play pass-set-hit, but it's the other parts of the game, where you have to be very good defensively. When the ball is off the court or off of somebody's hand going to get it. Playing scrappy and ready for anything out there. When we have that part, we are really hard to beat. I thought that, in the second set especially, we really won all of the hustle plays, which we weren't doing in the first set."

"I thought that Hannah also did a great job tonight," Sien said. "She was all over the court and seemed like she was determined to set every single ball. Her footwork was textbook. Even when passes were way off the net, she got to it, squared up and got a good, hittable set. I know that, as a hitter, when your setter literally sacrifices themselves to get a set, you can't help but say 'I'm going to bury this ball because they just went through so much effort to get me this ball'. When your setter works that hard, I truly believe that inspires your hitters."

The Trailblazers will be on the road this weekend when VU travels to Park Hills, Mo. to take part in the Cardinal Classic. Vincennes will face-off against No. 20-ranked host Mineral Area College Friday, Oct. 14 at 6 p.m. eastern and close out the weekend against No. 3-ranked Indian Hills and Barton C.C. Saturday, Oct. 15 at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. eastern respectively.

"This weekend we are playing a team that has already beaten us this season," Sien said. "We don't have that with the other four teams that have beaten us this year, so this is an opportunity for some redemption on our side. Plus, Mineral Area and Indian Hills could be possible District Tournament opponents for us."

"We'll see where we stack up against a couple of nationally ranked teams, including one in the top-five," Sien added. "We haven't played Indian Hills in a few years. The teams we play this weekend are going to be very athletic and very fast. The shots are going to be harder to pick up, the services are going to be coming in faster. I expect Indian Hills to have a bunch of jump-servers. At that level, with the players they have, it's going to be like they are serving rockets over the net."

"That's just the level that they play at," Sien said. "When you play against the top-ten, top-five teams in the NJCAA Division I, they are not that far off from NCAA Division I level. That's why we really wanted to go this weekend, is to play at least a couple of teams that we might see in the District Tournament."

BOX SCORE

John A. Logan – 25   14   20   18   x

VUVB (25-5, 9-0) – 23   25   25   25   x

INDIVIDUAL STATS

Josephine Mulligan – 1 point, 1 ace, 7 digs, 21 set assists

Audrey Buis – 15.5 points, 15 kills, 1 block assist, 5 digs

Lara Gomes de Castro – 1 point, 1 ace, 13 digs

Morgan Netcott – 28 digs, 2 set assists

Paige Parlanti – 23.5 points, 2 aces, 21 kills, 1 block assist, 23 digs, 1 set assist

Alexis Chrappa – 10 points, 8 kills, 4 block assists, 5 digs

Nisa Salis – 5 points, 4 kills, 2 block assists, 2 digs

Tuana Turhan – 8.5 points, 4 aces, 2 kills, 5 block assists, 6 digs

Hannah Graber – 4 points, 2 aces, 2 kills, 7 digs, 25 set assists

Malgorzata Banasiak – 7 points, 6 kills, 2 block assists