Trailblazers surpass 20 wins this season with road win at Lincoln Trail

ROBINSON, Ill. – The Vincennes University Trailblazer volleyball team surpassed a big milestone this season after picking up a four-set win at Lincoln Trail College Tuesday night.

VU notched their 20th win of the season with the win over the Statesmen 24-26, 25-13, 25-13, 25-23.

Set one set the tone for the match with the two teams trading points until Vincennes grabbed the lead with a 5-0 scoring run.

Lincoln Trail would rally back to take the lead after scoring eight out of nine points and closed out the set in overtime with a 4-1 scoring run to take the opening set 26-24.

The Lady Statesmen took the lead early in set two, before Vincennes grabbed all of the momentum of the match with a 10-0 scoring run by sophomore Lara Gomes de Castro (Sao Paulo, Brazil).

Lincoln Trail looked to battle back into the set but were unable to put a scoring run together as the Blazers closed out set two 25-13 to even the match at 1-1.

Vincennes continued to ride this momentum into the third set with an 8-0 scoring run by freshman Paige Parlanti (Las Vegas, Nev.) to give VU an 11-3 lead.

Lincoln Trail would answer with a 6-0 scoring run but were unable to take the lead back from the Blazers as VU took set three 25-13 and took a 2-1 match lead.

Looking to close out the match, Vincennes grabbed an early lead in the fourth set, leading 16-12.

Lincoln Trail used a 4-0 scoring run to take a late lead at 20-19 before VU quickly took the lead back and closed out the fourth set, going the distance, 25-23 and giving the Blazers the 3-1 match win.

"We were very tentative in the first set," VUVB Head Coach Gary Sien said. "It certainly didn't help when we missed so many serves, we had at least five missed serves and at least two in some pretty crucial moments. Sometimes we don't have five missed serves in a match, let alone one set. Also, our serve receive was sketchy at times tonight too. When we don't have our passing going, it's tough to get our sets out to the pins where we need them."

"I think that was the biggest difference in the second and third sets," Sien added. "We were able to pass more in system, get the sets where we wanted them and run our offense really well. We had this last weekend off, we had some players that were dealing with some nagging injuries, so I thought we got a little healthier after the weekend. But when you take two days off in a row, it's almost like starting over again."

"Lincoln Trail is always a tough team," Sien said. "They always play us tough. They have a nice team this year. They will be moving up to Division I next year, so it will be nice for us to get another team in the Region and get two more matches a year. They are definitely a good program to make the jump up to Division I next year, so we will definitely be continuing this close rivalry."

The Trailblazers were led offensively by another double-double performance from Paige Parlanti, who finished with 18 kills and 12 digs, while also setting a new career high with six blocks and four aces.

Freshmen Alexis Chrappa (Effingham, Ill.) and Maecy Johnson (Chrisman, Ill.) narrowly missed hitting double-digit kills with Chrappa falling just short of a double-double with nine kills, seven digs and a block and Johnson finishing with eight kills, three digs and two blocks.

Freshman Tuana Turhan (Ankara, Turkey) and sophomore Malgorzata Banasiak (Gdynia, Poland) each finished with four kills, with Turhan adding six blocks and a dig and Banasiak ending the night with two blocks.

Sophomore Hannah Graber (Montgomery, Ind.) rounds out the VU offense with one kill, while also working with sophomore Josephine Mulligan (Saint John, Ind.) to set the Trailblazer hitters.

Graber led the Blazers with 22 set assists and five digs, while Mulligan added 18 set assists, six digs and an ace.

Freshman libero Morgan Netcott (Montague, Mich.) led the Trailblazers defensively with 17 digs and one set assist, while sophomore Lara Gomes de Castro added seven digs and three aces for the Blazers.

"Maecy hadn't played front row for us until the Wallace State tournament a couple of weeks ago," Sien said. "That's a long time without playing in the front row. Then to come into a completely different blocking system than what you are used to, I thought Maecy did a wonderful job at Wallace State and again tonight."

"We had to make some adjustments tonight," Sien added. "But Maecy did a really nice job of setting the block in front of their left-side hitter. It's also not only about getting a block for a point, but getting a hand on any shot, so we can transition from defensive to offensive. Sometimes the stats are a bit deceptive, because she only had two blocks, that doesn't mean that you weren't doing anything. Maecy also hit really well, finishing with a .385 hitting percentage. I know she used to hit on her club team. She always swings well. She rarely makes a mistake. She had a really nice all-around match tonight, because she served received really well also."

"I thought Lara also played really well tonight," Sien said. "She didn't have a lot of digs, but she had some pretty big digs tonight. I also thought she served extremely well. She had about three big serving runs and ended with three aces in 21 serves."

Vincennes will return home over the weekend when the Trailblazers host the Showdown on the Wabash Friday, Oct. 7 and Saturday, Oct. 8.

VU will face off against Edison State C.C. Friday at 3 p.m. eastern and close out the first day against Snead State at 7 p.m. eastern.

Vincennes will close out the weekend Saturday, Oct. 8 against Chattanooga State at 10 a.m. eastern and St. Louis Community College at 2 p.m. eastern.

"We still have to be prepared this weekend," Sien said. "I say, at times, that you have to be just as prepared, or even more prepared to play at home because of all the distractions that are around. Plus, you also don't have our usually bus ride that could be anywhere from an hour to six hours to get your mind right."

"You have all of your friends here, your family coming to see the game, so there could be a lot of distractions to playing at home," Sien added. "These are going to be some pretty good teams that we are bringing in this weekend. It's a great showcase. We are playing four different teams from four different states. If you play well against them, they might go back to their home state or their Region and talk about how tough we played them. I think it's great that we are able to bring in so many teams from different parts of the country to play in this tournament."

BOX SCORE

Lincoln Trail – 26   13   13   23   x

VUVB (20-5, 8-0) – 24   25   25   25   x

INDIVIDUAL STATS

Josephine Mulligan – 1 point, 1 ace, 6 digs, 18 set assists

Lara Gomes de Castro – 3 points, 3 aces, 7 digs

Morgan Netcott – 17 digs, 1 set assists

Paige Parlanti – 25 points, 4 aces, 18 kills, 6 block assists, 12 digs

Alexis Chrappa – 9.5 points, 9 kills, 1 block assist, 7 digs

Nisa Salis – 4.5 points, 2 aces, 5 block assists, 3 digs

Maecy Johnson – 9 points, 8 kills, 2 block assists, 3 digs

Tuana Turhan – 8 points, 4 kills, 2 solo blocks, 4 block assists, 1 dig

Hannah Graber – 1 point, 1 kill, 5 digs, 22 set assists

Malgorzata Banasiak – 5 points, 4 kills, 2 block assists