Trailblazers pass first road test of the season in Region 24 sweep at Shawnee

ULLIN, Ill. – The Vincennes University Trailblazer volleyball team hit the road for the first time during the 2022 regular season and came away with a three-set sweep over Region 24 opponent Shawnee 25-6, 25-13, 25-11.

This matchup is one of VU's longest road trips of the season, with the Blazers needing to not only battle a three-hour bus ride, but also a time change and a change in location with the match being played at Century High School in Ullin.

Vincennes grabbed control of the opening set quickly, jumping out to a 14-3 advantage over the Saints.

After a 3-0 scoring run by host Shawnee, the Trailblazers responded back to close out the set on an 11-0 scoring run of their own behind some impressive serving by freshman Tuana Turhan (Ankara, Turkey).

Set two began more as a back-and-forth battle before VU managed to open a 14-6 lead midway through the set.

The two teams traded points until sophomore Kaley Roush (Shoals, Ind.) stepped up to serve and came away with a 4-0 scoring run to take set two 25-13.

VU looked to close out the sweep in a big way in set three with sophomore Josephine Mulligan (Saint John, Ind.) giving the Blazers a 16-3 lead after a 10-0 scoring run.

Shawnee attempted to battle back into the game but were unable to cut into the deficit as Vincennes came away with the 25-11 set win and the 3-0 match sweep.

"Tonight we were dealing with some challenging circumstances," VUVB Head Coach Gary Sien said. "Changing location and changing the time, making this match even later for us after a three-hour trip. Everything about today was a challenge and serves as sort of a 'welcome to the season' moment for us."

"I feel like we handled it all pretty well overall," Sien added. "I think our warmups were so-so. Normally you can tell how a team will play based on their warmups, but we were able to turn it around because we definitely played well during the match. It could have been much worse. We could have been out there for much longer than we needed to be."

The Trailblazers were led offensively by freshman Audrey Buis (Franklin, Ind.) who finished the night with eight kills and an outstanding .600 hitting percentage.

Tuana Turhan ended her night with six kills, three aces, three digs and a block assist for the Blazers.

Freshman Alexis Chrappa (Effingham, Ill.) finished with four kills and four digs and fellow freshmen Paige Parlanti (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Maecy Johnson (Chrisman, Ill.) finished with three kills each.

Parlanti added three aces and five digs, while Johnson added a block assist to her totals.

Sophomore Malgorzata Banasiak (Gdynia, Poland) finished with a pair of kills, with sophomores Hannah Graber (Montgomery, Ind.) and Kaley Roush and freshmen Nisa Salis (Ankara, Turkey) and Kennedy Sowell (Effingham, Ill.) recording one kill each.

Roush would also come away with a pair of aces, while Graber led the Blazers with 11 set assists and adding five digs.

Sophomore Josephine Mulligan helped run the VU offense along with Graber, finishing with eight set assists, six digs and a pair of aces.

Sophomore Lara Gomes de Castro (Sao Paulo, Brazil) ended her night with a pair of aces, two digs and two set assists.

Freshman libero Morgan Netcott (Montague, Mich.) came away as with a team-high eight digs defensively.

"We knew we weren't going to get big blocking numbers tonight because we just didn't have a lot of opportunities," Sien said. "Audrey did hit extremely well tonight. She is just a really long athlete that if we give a few more opportunities to, she will be able to put up those types of numbers."

"Tuana also had some good swings tonight too," Sien added. "But she also came away with three aces, which you wouldn't expect out of a middle. She had a couple of good serving runs, so she was able to contribute there and in the backrow with a few digs. She only had one block, but she was also able to contribute in the other categories, which you don't usually see out of a middle."

This match kicks off a three-match Region 24 stretch for the Trailblazers, with VU hosting Lake Land College Saturday, Aug. 27 at the P.E. Complex at 12 p.m. eastern, before hitting the road next week to face-off against Wabash Valley in Mt. Carmel, Ill. Wednesday, Aug. 31.

These matches will put VU nearly halfway through their 2022 Region 24 schedule, as Vincennes continues to look to repeat at Region 24 Champions this season.

"Once we get through this stretch, we will almost be halfway through our Region schedule," Sien said. "Looking at Lake Land, they are going to have several third-year players and just like every other Region 24 team they will give us a tough match."

"Last year we played them twice, we did sweep both matches, but particularly the second match was tough," Sien added. "Lake Land always plays us extremely tough and we also always seem to have some of their local kids on our team, so I think that makes this even more of a rivalry when even the players know each other."

BOX SCORE

VUVB (4-0, 2-0) – 25  25  25  x  x

Shawnee – 6  13  11  x  x

INDIVIDUAL STATS

Kaley Roush – 3 points, 2 aces, 1 kill

Josephine Mulligan – 2 points, 2 aces, 6 digs, 8 set assists

Audrey Buis – 8 points, 8 kills

Lara Gomes de Castro – 2 points, 2 aces, 2 digs, 2 set assists

Morgan Netcott – 8 digs

Paige Parlanti – 6 points, 3 aces, 3 kills, 5 digs

Alexis Chrappa – 4 points, 4 kills, 4 digs

Nisa Salis – 1 point, 1 kill

Maecy Johnson – 3.5 points, 3 kills, 1 block assist

Kennedy Sowell – 1 point, 1 kill

Tuana Turhan – 9.5 points, 3 aces, 6 kills, 1 block assist, 3 digs

Hannah Graber – 1 point, 1 kill, 5 digs, 11 set assists

Malgorzata Banasiak – 2 points, 2 kills