VUVB winning streak hits five after four-set thriller over Lake Land College

VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University Trailblazer volleyball team closed out the first week of the 2022 season Saturday afternoon a perfect 5 – 0 after picking up the 26-24, 25-20, 21-25, 25-16 win over Region 24 opponent Lake Land College.

Vincennes got off to a slow start to begin set one, falling behind early 9-5, before responding with a 7-0 scoring run to take the lead.

Lake Land bounced back to hold a six-point lead late in the opening set and held set point over the Trailblazers, the first time VU has faced set point this season.

Vincennes would close out the opening set on a 5-0 scoring run, forcing overtime and picking up the 26-24 win to take a 1-0 match lead.

VU looked to continue this momentum into the second set, using a couple of scoring runs to hold a 13-9 advantage midway through the set.

Lake Land answered, not allowing the Trailblazers to completely grab control of the set, but ultimately Vincennes held on to take set two 25-20.

The Lakers came out in set three firing with Lake Land facing a sweep VU found themselves behind 9-2 early.

The Blazers would attempt to rally back and cut the deficit down to just three points, before Lake Land finished off the third set 25-21 and extended the match.

Vincennes looked to answer back after dropping their first set of the season and answered in a big way with a 7-0 scoring run behind the serving of sophomore Hannah Graber (Montgomery, Ind.) to give the Blazers an 18-7 lead.

Lake Land would look to battle their way back with a 6-1 scoring run but were unable to erase the VU lead as Vincennes took set three 25-16 and picked up their third Region 24 win on the season.

"Today we had to overcome the experience factor," VUVB Head Coach Gary Sien said. "I believe Lake Land only played two freshmen all game and had five third-year players. Compare that to our combined five years of college experience on our team and Lake Land has at least twice as much, possibly three times as much experience as we do."

"The question then became, 'Can our talent overcome their experience'," Sien added. "At points today we were great and at points we were not. We were down most of the first set, but we were able to put together a big comeback at the end. The third set was a similar thing except Lake Land went on a run and we couldn't comeback again. Hopefully we were able to learn that we can't just rely on that every time."

"We need to be playing at a high level at the first serve of every set because volleyball is a very difficult sport to come back in," Sien said. "But definitely credit our team for being able to pick it up and not quitting in the first set."

VU finished the match with four players ending with double doubles. Freshman Paige Parlanti (Las Vegas, Nev.) recorded her second career double-double with team highs of 17 kills and 27 digs.

Freshman Alexis Chrappa (Effingham, Ill.) notched her first career double-double with 12 kills and 16 digs, with a solo block added in as well.

Sophomore setters Josephine Mulligan (Saint John, Ind.) and Hannah Graber each recorded double-doubles as well, with Mulligan leading the way with 17 set assists, 10 digs and an ace and Graber finishing with 14 set assists, 12 digs, four kills and a team-high three aces.

Freshman Audrey Buis (Franklin, Ind.) continues to hit the ball well, finishing with 11 kills and three block assists on the day.

Sophomore Malgorzata Banasiak (Gdynia, Poland) and freshman Tuana Turhan (Ankara, Turkey) had big days at the net, with Banasiak finishing with five kills, two block assists and one dig and Turhan ending with four kills, three block assists, one solo block, a pair of aces and one dig.

Freshman Kennedy Sowell (Effingham, Ill.) ended her day with one kill, one block assist and one dig and freshman libero Morgan Netcott (Montague, Mich.) matched Parlanti with a team-high 27 digs defensively.

"Audrey didn't get a double-double, but I thought she was pretty dominant today," Sien added. "She finished with a couple of errors, but those were more on her than Lake Land stopping her. Audrey gets up very high and is really long, but because of her position she isn't able to get a double-double. But she was just as dominant, if not more dominant than our other hitters out here today."

"If you get the set right on the pin for Paige, no matter where it's coming from, she is going to get it down," Sien said. "She hit some incredible shots today from 15-feet off the net. With her all-around play in the backrow as well, I think she should be averaging a double-double just based on her ability to play in six rotations."

"Our setters are also nice all-around athletes," Sien added. "We recruit setters that can play defense because in our system, they have to be able to play defense. Josephine played well today and was able to pass to the pins extremely well."

"Alexis is another six-rotation player for us and I thought our backrow was pretty outstanding today," Sien said. "Overall, I thought our team defense was very good. In the beginning we had some issues with them tipping the ball over us, but they were able to eliminate that. Lake Land was able to get some kills off of our blocks, but anything in the backrow they were able to pick up."

The Trailblazers will be on the road next week as VU travels to nearby Mt. Carmel, Ill. Wednesday, Aug. 31 to take on Region 24 opponent Wabash Valley at 7 p.m. eastern.

"Looking back at our week, a week ago we scrimmaged the University of Indianapolis in Indy, who are probably one of the better teams we are going to play all year," Sien said. "Then we have today's game, which was probably our toughest game against our toughest opponent so far this regular season and we hope that having those two games will help prepare us well to go down and face Wabash Valley."

"Wabash Valley is a difficult environment to play in," Sien added. "They have a smaller facility, so you are almost face-to-face with the fans. Plus, because we are Vincennes, I'm sure they are going to pack their gym."

"The biggest thing that I hope we take away from this week of games is to just play under control," Sien said. "Where we take care of things on our side of the net and don't really get concerned with everything else going on. We have overcome everything so far. Wednesday is just another opportunity for us to continue to do what we have been doing and if we do that, we should be fine. We just have to be able to keep the right mindset going into it."

BOX SCORE

Lake Land – 24   20   25   16   x

VUVB (5-0, 3-0) – 26   25   21   25   x

INDIVIDUAL STATS

Josephine Mulligan – 1 point, 1 ace, 10 digs, 17 set assists

Audrey Buis – 12.5 points, 11 kills, 3 block assists

Morgan Netcott – 27 digs

Paige Parlanti – 18 points, 1 ace, 17 kills, 27 digs

Alexis Chrappa – 13 points, 12 kills, 1 solo block, 16 digs

Kennedy Sowell – 1.5 points, 1 kills, 1 block assist, 1 dig

Tuana Turhan – 8.5 points, 2 aces, 4 kills, 1 solo block, 3 block assists, 1 dig

Hannah Graber – 7 points, 3 aces, 4 kills, 12 digs, 14 set assists

Malgorzata Banasiak – 6 points, 5 kills, 2 block assists, 1 dig