Grimes double-double not enough as VUVB falls at home to Lincoln Land

VINCENNES, Ind. – The Trailblazer volleyball team played their second game of a back-to-back Saturday afternoon at VU host Division II No. 15-ranked Lincoln Land College.

Vincennes held the early control in set one, with a narrow 7-5 lead before Lincoln Land answered with a 4-0 scoring run and never relinquished the lead as the Loggers opened the match with a 25-18 win.

The Trailblazers responded after falling behind 5-2 in the second before a pair of lengthy scoring runs allowed VU to even the score taking set two 25-15.

Set three was more of the back-and-forth set we expected to see out of these two evenly matched teams, as the lead changed hands five times before Lincoln Land took the extended set 26-24.

Vincennes was determined to defend their home court and force a fifth set, scoring seven of the first eight points to begin set four, but slowly the Loggers chipped away at the Trailblazer lead. Lincoln Land took a late 23-22 lead and sealed the win over the Blazers 25-23.

"At a certain point in a set, when it's the last five points, is when you just have to execute," VUVB head coach Gary Sien said. "You can't make mistakes you can't be tentative. Even if you make a mistake but your still aggressive, I'll take that any day. I just thought there were points, not just at the end of set but at various points throughout the match that there were some crucial points."

"In the fourth set we had a fairly large lead, so you think we're just going to build on that and go to set five where anything can happen. It all goes back to execution, because even if we don't play well we're still going to have to reset ourselves and get execute our plays."

"I just didn't think we had the chemistry that we did last night. It seemed like last night everything fell in place on defense. We were okay on defense today, but there were points where Lincoln Land's hitters were hitting in the corners or tipping that we just didn't get that we probably would have gotten last night. I think we just need to learn that we need to start over again with a new game, just because we won last night, we've got to do it again today."

"One optimistic thing to take away from today was even though we didn't play great we were still close with Lincoln Land. A couple plays here or there in the third and fourth sets could have been the difference. We just have to learn to not only adjust to what our opponent is doing but readjust if we have to."

Trailblazer sophomore Savannah Grimes recorded her third double-double of the season with 30 set assists and 17 digs to go along with her two kills.

Freshmen Jamie Russell and Amee Beedle teamed up with sophomore Breanna Metzger to lead the Trailblazer offense. Russell would finish with a team-high 12 kills and two block assists.

Metzger would also finish in with double-digit kills for the fourth time in five matches, ending her game with 10 kills, three digs and a block assist.

Amee Beedle recorded eight kills, a team leading 24 digs and an ace.

Freshman Anna Johnsey added six kills, four digs, two aces and a block assist to her season totals.

Freshman libero Grace Earp helped out the VU defense ending with 22 digs, while also aiding the offense with a set assist as well.

"When a team is hitting shots around us like Lincoln Land was today, we're not going to be able to block them, but if we're able to adjust that's where our dig numbers are going to go up. It just wasn't enough. Late in sets, when the score is in the 20's you have to play perfect, you can't have unforce errors or lack of aggressiveness."

Vincennes will hit the road next week as the Blazers travel to Mt. Carmel, Ill. to take on Region 24 opponent Wabash Valley Wednesday, Feb. 17. This match is set to start at 7 p.m. eastern.

"We just have to learn how to make adjustments and readjustments. At a certain level, if you have the ability to do certain things, you could really be a different team even within the same set. I can't really say what Wabash Valley or John A. Logan is going to do next week but we need to grow as a team to be able to make those adjustments quicker."

"Our dig numbers were pretty high but there were a handful of times where we could have made a dig that could have been the difference, that's how close it was today. We have to stay aggressive when we get a lead. Once we get a lead lets beat them by seven or eight points. That's all part of the learning process with this group. It was good for us to play a game like this where it was so close, I think everybody knows a couple of plays were really the difference in sets three and four and the result of the match."

VINCENNES STATS

Lincoln Land  25  15  26  25  x

Vincennes (6-4)  18  25  24  23  x

Savannah Grimes – 2 points, 2 kills, 17 digs, 30 set assists

Amee Beedle – 9 points, 1 ace, 8 kills, 24 digs

Emile Cornelson – 5 points, 2 kills, 2 solo blocks, 2 block assists, 1 set assist

Anna Johnsey – 8.5 points, 2 aces, 6 kills, 1 block assist, 4 digs

Breanna Metzger – 10.5 points, 10 kills, 1 block assist, 3 digs

Allyson Kuhl – 1 point, 1 kill, 9 digs

Jamie Russell – 13 points, 12 kills, 2 block assists, 3 digs

Grace Earp – 22 digs 1 set assist

Olga Vasovic – 11 digs, 1 set assist