Reloaded Trailblazers volleyball team set to begin Region title defense Sunday

VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University Volleyball program looks to start the VU Athletics season with a bang on Sunday, August 21, when VU hosts Region 24 opponent Shawnee Community College and East Central (Mo.) College in tri-match action.

The Trailblazers are coming off of a historic season in 2021, which saw VU capture their first Region Championship in 15 years and first Region title at the NJCAA Division I level.

Never wanting to settle, Head Coach Gary Sien continues to set his sights higher coming into the 2022 season after bringing in another tremendous recruiting class.

Vincennes will have five returning sophomores for the 2022 season, including setters Hannah Graber (Montgomery, Ind.) and Josephine Mulligan (Saint John, Ind.).

Sophomores Kaley Roush (Shoals, Ind.), Lara Gomes de Castro (Sao Paulo, Brazil) and Malgorzata Banasiak (Gdynia, Poland) will also return to the P.E. Complex floor for the 2022 season.

"We always want our returning sophomores to come in as leaders," Sien said. "Even beyond the volleyball court, we look for them to bring their life experiences from being at VU and communicate that to the incoming freshmen. Things like knowing where all of the buildings on campus are at. I just really like how they have taken these freshmen under their wing."

"At this level, pretty much every school has a new team every year and we just don't have the time to gel as much as a team as I would like," Sien added. "But I feel like our sophomores have done a good job of that since they have been back on campus. This sophomore class will be shouldering a lot of responsibility, especially with only returning one hitter from last year's team."

"Probably the most crucial thing we have going for us is that we are returning both setters from last year's team," Sien said. "The setters are very important on the floor, so it is very nice to have both setters returning from last year. We usually return one, but it has been a while since we were able to have both setters back."

Coach Sien had a tough task this offseason as he will look to replace 87-percent of his team's kills and 88-percent of blocks from the 2021 season.

The incoming freshman class will have some big shoes to fill as VU looks to replace 2021 Region 24 Player of the Year Grace Earp (Mattoon, Ill.) and All-Region 24 honoree Addison Ainscough (Cannelburg, Ind.).

Vincennes will also be without the front row presence of outgoing sophomores Emilie Cornelson (Saskatoon, Canada), Jamie Russell (East St. Louis, Ill.) and third-year sophomore Breanna Metzger (Dale, Ind.).

The Trailblazers will be without Russell who signed with NAIA Stephens College in Missouri over the off-season and Jagoda Szybinska (Poznan, Poland) who signed to play at NCAA Division II Northern State University in South Dakota to play with her twin sister.

Coach Sien hit the recruiting trail hard over the offseason, bringing in eight new freshmen who will all be competing for spots in the rotation this season.

VU welcomes in outside hitters Paige Parlanti (Las Vegas, Nev.), Alexis Chrappa (Effingham, Ill.) and Audrey Buis (Franklin, Ind.), as well as middle blockers Kennedy Sowell (Effingham, Ill.), Nisa Salis (Ankara, Turkey) and Tuana Turhan (Ankara, Turkey).

Coach Sien also signed Maecy Johnson (Chrisman, Ill.) and Morgan Netcott (Montague, Mich.) to help bolster the Trailblazers back row defense and as additional options for setting this season.

"Primarily, I want the incoming freshmen to understand what last year's team did and how historical winning the Region Championship was," Sien said. "But on top of that, they now have their chance to leave their own mark on the program here, as the next step is to get to the District Championship and the winner of that goes to the National Tournament. So there are still goals to be achieved here."

"I also want to make sure the incoming freshmen understand the great rivalries what we have here within Region 24," Sien added. "Even though we are still the new kids to the Region, we have earned their respect, even before winning the Championship last year. That might be difficult to understand at first, until we start playing the games, but I say it is like facing your biggest rival in high school, magnified by 100 times. These are some hard-fought, emotional matches within Region 24."

"We graduated and lost quite a bit off of last year's team," Sien said. "When you lose your Player of the Year libero, it is going to be hard to replace that level of back row ball control. We also lost a majority of our front row and blocking from last year. But that will happen some years at this level, but regardless of all of that, these freshmen will get the chance to step up."

"We don't have the time to worry about the people who aren't here," Sien added. "I'm more worried about the people who are here. We just need to treat it with a 'next man up' mentality and being ready when your number is called, because now it will be called. These freshmen are going to be filling some big shoes this year that maybe they didn't think they would have to this year, but now they will and they have to. All of us need to step up."

The Trailblazers will begin the 2022 season with a flurry of matches, playing six matches in seven days during the first week of the season.

VU will begin their Region title defense Sunday, Aug. 21 when the Trailblazers host Shawnee Community College at 12 p.m. eastern and East Central (Mo.) College at 4 p.m. eastern.

The Trailblazers will also host Lincoln Trail College Tuesday, Aug. 23 at the P.E. Complex. That match is set to begin at 7 p.m. eastern.

"My expectations and goals for every season never change," Sien said. "Repeat as Region Champions and then my goal every year is to make it to the National Championships. I think that is the goal of all of us coaches at VU, with our ultimate goal is to win the National Championship. If we fall short, fine. But that is always going to be one of our goals. We are just going to train as hard as we can so we can be ready when we get in that position."

All VU Volleyball home games will be livestreamed on the Vincennes University Stretch Live portal, which can be found under the 'Inside Athletics' tab on the VU Athletics website.

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