Ainscough and Szybinska shine as Trailblazers open season with pair of five-set wins

HANCEVILLE, Ala. – The Vincennes University volleyball team kicked off their season Friday night with an impressive first day at Wallace State's "Diggin' in the Den" tournament.

The Trailblazers came away with a pair of five-set victories over tough opponent's Roane State and Chattanooga State to open up the Fall 2021 campaign.

VU put away previously unbeaten Roane State 18-25, 25-22, 24-26, 26-24, 15-11 and ended the day Friday by downing Chattanooga State 20-25, 19-25, 25-15, 25-15, 15-13.

Vincennes didn't get off to the best of starts, dropping set one to Roane State 25-18 to fall behind 1-0 early.

The Blazers would battle back in a tightly contested second set to even the match at a set a piece.

Roane State and VU again traded sets three and four, with the score showing exactly how close of a matchup this was as both sets went long.

Roane State took set three 26-24 and VU forced a fifth set by taking set four 26-24.

The Trailblazers came away with the fifth set victory 15-11, opening their Fall 2021 season on a winning note and handing Roane State their first loss of the season.

"We played a very confident team in Roane State, who was 5-0 going into this match," VUVB head coach Gary Sien said. "We had trouble with our serve receive and weren't able to run our offense early on. It took us a couple of sets to figure out Roane State's offense."

Freshman hitter Addison Ainscough (Cannelburg, Ind.) led the way for the Blazers, finishing with a team-high 17 kills and 22 digs.

Freshman Jadoga Szybinska (Poznan, Poland) followed close behind Ainscough with 14 kills and a pair of aces on the match.

Sophomore Breanna Metzger (Dale, Ind.) was the third Blazer hitter to finish with double-digit kills, ending the first match of the day with 10 kills and five blocks.

The offense was run through freshman setter Hannah Graber (Montgomery, Ind.) who came away with a staggering 46 set assists in her first collegiate match, to go along with eight digs and six kills.

Sophomore blocker Emilie Cornelson (Saskatoon, Canada) came away with many key blocks at the net for the Blazers against Roane State, leading VU with 11 total blocks.

The Blazers had little time to recover from their opening match as VU had to regroup for another tough opponent in Chattanooga State.

Chattanooga State came out of the gates attacking, taking the opening two sets over Vincennes 25-20 and 25-19 to take a commanding 2-0 match lead.

The Trailblazers would battle back however, taking sets three and four by the score of 25-15 to even the score and again for a fifth set.

Chattanooga State didn't go away easily though, as the fifth set went the distance with the Blazers narrowly coming away with a 15-13 set win, giving VU their second five-set victory of the day.

"We got some big time play from our front row in this match," Sien added. "We blocked a lot of shots that helped us take over the match."

Jagoda Szybinska led the Blazers against Chattanooga State, finding holes in the defense to finish the match with a team-high 18 kills.

Addison Ainscough reached double-digit kills for the second time this season with 15 kills, along with eight digs and three blocks.

The net was controlled defensively by sophomores Emilie Cornelson and Jamie Russell (East St. Louis, Ill). Cornelson led the Blazers with six blocks, with Russell chipping in five of her own.

Vincennes was able to run a two-setter offense against Chattanooga State, as freshman Josephine Mulligan (Saint John, Ind.) came away with 27 set assists, with Hannah Graber adding 24.

VU will finish off the "Diggin' in the Den" Tournament Saturday, Aug. 28 when Vincennes takes on host and No. 18-ranked Wallace State at 11 a.m. eastern and will conclude their busy weekend against Bevill State at 1 p.m. eastern.

VUVB vs Roane State Box Score

Roane State – 25 22 26 24 11

VUVB (1-0) – 18 25 24 26 15

VINCENNES STATS

Josephine Mulligan – 2 points, 2 aces, 10 set assists

Amee Beedle – 2 points, 1 ace, 1 kill, 18 digs

Addison Ainscough – 19.5 points, 17 kills, 1 solo block, 3 block assists, 22 digs, 1 set assists

Lara Gomes de Castro – 3 digs

Emilie Cornelson – 10 points, 4 kills, 1 solo block, 10 block assists

Jagoda Szybinska – 18.5 points, 2 aces, 14 kills, 1 solo block, 3 block assists, 4 digs

Breanna Metzger – 13 points, 10 kills, 1 solo block, 4 block assists, 2 digs

Jamie Russell – 9 points, 3 aces, 5 kills, 2 block assists, 1 dig

Grace Earp – 1 point, 1 ace, 21 digs, 1 set assist

Hannah Graber – 6 points, 6 kills, 8 digs, 46 set assists

Malgorzata Banasiak – 4.5 points, 2 kills, 2 solo blocks, 1 block assist.

VUVB vs Chattanooga State Box Score

Chattanooga State – 25 25 15 15 13

VINCENNES (2-0) – 20 19 25 25 15

VINCENNES STATS

Josephine Mulligan – 6 digs, 27 set assists

Amee Beedle – 2 points, 2 kills, 9 digs, 1 set assist

Addison Ainscough – 17 points, 15 kills, 1 solo block, 2 block assists, 8 digs

Emilie Cornelson – 6.5 points, 3 kills, 1 solo block, 5 block assists

Jagoda Szybinska – 20 points, 18 kills, 1 solo blocks, 2 block assists, 5 digs, 1 set assist

Breanna Metzger – 9.5 points, 8 kills, 3 block assists, 1 dig

Jamie Russell – 9 points, 6 kills, 1 solo block, 4 block assists, 3 digs

Grace Earp – 10 digs, 2 set assists

Hannah Graber – 4 points, 1 ace, 3 kills, 4 digs, 24 set assists

Malgorzata Banasiak – 6.5 points, 5 kills, 3 block assists, 1 dig, 1 set assist