Graber records 1,000th career set assist as VUVB winning streak hits 10

VINCENNES, Ind. – Vincennes University sophomore setter Hannah Graber (Montgomery, Ind.) was recognized before Saturday's match against St. Louis Community College after reaching the 1,000-career set assist milestone last night against Snead State.

Graber's 23 set assists against the Parsons Friday night gave her exactly 1,001 set assists as a member of the Trailblazers.

"Since I started at VU in 2016, Hannah is only the third setter to reach this milestone," VUVB Head Coach Gary Sien said. "Pretty much every year since I've been here, we have run a six-two or two-setter system and that, of course, makes it more challenging to reach 1,000 set assists because you are splitting time with another setter."

"It just gives you an understanding of her abilities," Sien added. "Her ability to know who to set. With setters it's all about making good choices. Putting hitters in the best situations to not only get a good swing, but to get a kill. She, like all of our setters, is very coachable. She also plays with an edge. When she's on the court, she just takes control and if I were on the court with her, I would want to follow her. She really just pulls people together just by her play and her aggressiveness. She really leads by example."

"She was someone that I really wanted to sign out of high school," Sien said. "She was one of my top recruits for her class. I knew that once we signed her that we were going to be pretty successful offensively. The other parts, we'll see, but at least we knew that we got someone who can really run our offense."

"She's a very aggressive setter as well," Sien added. "She will take a ball and try to get a kill. When you have that out of your setter, it's almost like having another hitter. She always seems to find a way to get the ball to an empty spot on the floor or get the ball to a spot where it is very difficult for the defense to pick it up and get a shot that is going to be on point. I love players that play with that type of an edge to them, because they are winners. They don't know anything else but to win and you can't coach that."

The Trailblazers finished out the two-day Showdown on the Wabash tournament Saturday at the P.E. Complex with a pair of sweeps, first over Chattanooga State 25-21, 25-13, 25-14 and against St. Louis C.C. 25-18, 25-14, 25-20.

The Blazers began the day less than 12 hours after their match ended last night against Chattanooga State in a rematch from Sept. 24 when Vincennes swept the Tigers at the Wallace State C.C. Fall Bash.

Vincennes found themselves in a battle early, with the two sides trading scoring runs before a 4-0 run by the Blazers gave VU an 18-16 lead.

Chattanooga State would not retake the lead in the first set as Vincennes took the opening set of the day 25-21.

VU kept their momentum going into the second set as freshman libero Morgan Netcott (Montague, Mich.) used a 7-0 scoring run to give the Blazers an early 8-1 advantage.

Chattanooga State again would attempt to comeback in the set but were unable to put together a lengthy scoring run as Vincennes took set two 25-13 and held a 2-0 match lead.

The Trailblazers continued this hot start in the third set, with a pair of scoring runs giving Vincennes a 17-7 lead midway through the set.

Looking to close out the sweep, VU did not allow Chattanooga State to put together any scoring runs late in the set as Vincennes took set three and completed the sweep 25-14.

"The good thing about this weekend is, of course, that we are playing at home," Sien said. "We don't have to travel, stay in a hotel, all of our players just had to walk a block across campus to their rooms last night after the last match. So, I think that helped us out this morning."

"I've had some different teams through the years that don't really play well in the morning, but this group, in every tournament that we have played in has played extremely well," Sien added. "The challenge is to play four matches in less than 24 hours, but then to also had less than 12 hours between the last match last night and the first match today. That's why it is always so hard to win all four matches over a weekend. We had a pretty tough schedule this weekend and everybody played us tough."

"We are still trying to turn things around and not get off to such slow starts in the first set," Sien said. "We are looking to change the mindset to not only win the first set but win it decisively. But I can't really fault this team too much after coming in and sweeping two tough teams today. We also played against the reigning Division II Offensive Player of the Week for Chattanooga State. She had her moments, but it wasn't like she went wild against us with her serves and her kills. She's a good player, so she is going to get some kills, it's just about keeping them to a minimum."

The VU offense was led by freshman Alexis Chrappa (Effingham, Ill.) who finished with 11 kills and five digs.

Freshman Paige Parlanti (Las Vegas, Nev.) and sophomore Malgorzata Banasiak (Gdynia, Poland) just missed double-digits with Parlanti ending with nine kills, 14 digs, three aces and a block and Banasiak finishing with eight kills, three digs and two blocks.

Freshman Tuana Turhan (Ankara, Turkey) finished with six kills, four digs, two aces and a set assist, while fellow freshmen Maecy Johnson (Chrisman, Ill.) and Nisa Salis (Ankara, Turkey) finished with four kills and seven digs for Johnson and three kills and two blocks for Salis.

Hannah Graber rounded out the VU offense with two kills, five digs and a team-high 19 set assists.

Sophomore setter Josephine Mulligan (Saint John, Ind.) ran the VU offense with Graber, narrowly missing a double-double with 14 set assists, nine digs and an ace.

Freshman Morgan Netcott and sophomore Lara Gomes de Castro patrolled the back row with Netcott ending with eight digs and a pair of set assists and Gomes de Castro recording seven digs, two aces and two set assists.

The Blazers closed out the weekend tournament against the Archers of St. Louis Community College.

VU wasted little time jumping out to an early lead in set one and continued to build a 16-9 lead midway through the set.

St. Louis tried to battle back but could not put together a scoring run as Vincennes came away with the 25-18 set one win.

The Blazers continued this momentum into the second set and used a massive 9-0 scoring run to take a commanding 20-8 lead before closing out set two 25-14.

Set three looked to be on a similar path early on as VU jumped out to a 13-4 lead before the Archers rallied back to cut the lead to three points.

After trading side outs, Vincennes used a quick 4-0 run to take a seven-point lead and held on to take set three and complete the sweep 25-20.

"We said at the end of the first set against St. Louis, 'yeah we won the game, but they out played us'," Sien said. "They absolutely out played us in that first set. They got all of the hustle plays. They won all of the rallies. So even though we won on the scoreboard, it really felt like they had won."

"We had a great response in the second set," Sien added. "We took that message to heart and really started to play like us. When we win a set like that, no matter who we play, when the other team scores in the mid to low teens, we are pretty dominant. This team, if we ever get to a point where we are on from beginning to end, could really blowout quite a few teams. When we are in system and we have all of our hitters going out there, it feels like you need five blockers to stop us."

"We also found some opportunities to play some different players against St. Louis because you never really know when you might need to call on them in different situations," Sien said. "That's the challenge of having this type of roster. It's great to have all of these options, but the challenge is trying to find playing time. Every one of our players deserves playing time, but there are only so many spots on the floor. So, we are always looking for opportunities to play as many people, hopefully even the whole team, as possible."

The Trailblazers were led offensively by the freshman hitting tandem of Paige Parlanti and Audrey Buis (Franklin, Ind.) who each finished with eight kills. Parlanti nearly recorded a double-double with nine digs and a block, while Buis added one dig and one block.

Tuana Turhan was close behind with seven kills, five blocks, three digs and a pair of aces.

Alexis Chrappa ended her day with four kills, three digs and a block, while sophomores Hannah Graber and Malgorzata Banasiak each finished with three kills. Graber added a team-high 14 set assists and four digs, while Banasiak added three blocks and two digs.

Freshman Kennedy Sowell (Effingham, Ill.) recorded a pair of kills, while sophomores Kaley Roush (Shoals, Ind.), Josephine Mulligan and freshman Maecy Johnson each finished with one kill.

Johnson would add a pair of digs, while Mulligan would finish with 13 set assists, eight digs and a pair of aces.

Morgan Netcott led the Blazers defensively with 13 digs and a set assist, while Lara Gomes de Castro finished with eight digs.

The Trailblazers will return to the P.E. Complex floor Wednesday, Oct. 12 when VU hosts Region 24 opponent John A. Logan College at 7 p.m. eastern.

"Our team can start blowing teams out by keeping the score in the mid to low teens but we need to start doing it from beginning to end," Sien said. "We are on a pretty nice roll right now, plus we got Audrey back today. Having her back just added on to everything else that we have had rolling these last few matches."

"Looking at the weekend, as a coach, we always just look to get better," Sien added. "There were several ways where we got better this weekend. When we approach a team like John A. Logan, who will be more difficult to face than the last time we played them because they have gotten better, but if we grow as a team that shouldn't matter."

"We are also a much better team than the first time we played John A. Logan," Sien said. "I thought when I came back that we had kind of plateaued as a team and they took that to heart and went down to Wallace State and played really well. I'm looking for us to be a better team than we were the last time against them. As I say all the time, it doesn't matter who is across the net, if we take care of our side, we'll be fine. If our side is better than before, it is going to be really tough to beat us. But it's a Region game, so we expect them to be tough."

BOX SCORE

GAME ONE

Chattanooga State – 21   13   14   x   x

VUVB (23-5, 8-0) – 25   25   25   x   x

INDIVIDUAL STATS

Josephine Mulligan – 1 point, 1 ace, 9 digs, 14 set assists

Lara Gomes de Castro – 2 points, 2 aces, 7 digs, 2 set assists

Morgan Netcott – 8 digs, 2 set assists

Paige Parlanti – 12.5 points, 3 aces, 9 kills, 1 block assist, 14 digs

Alexis Chrappa – 11 points, 11 kills, 5 digs

Nisa Salis – 4 points, 3 kills, 2 block assists

Maecy Johnson – 4 points, 4 kills, 7 digs

Tuana Turhan – 8 points, 2 aces, 6 kills, 4 digs

Hannah Graber – 2 points, 2 kills, 5 digs, 19 set assists

Malgorzata Banasiak – 9 points, 8 kills, 2 block assists, 3 digs

GAME TWO

St. Louis – 18   14   20   x   x

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

INDIVIDUAL STATS

Kaley Roush – 1 point, 1 kill

Josephine Mulligan – 3 points, 2 aces, 1 kill, 8 digs, 13 set assists

Audrey Buis – 8.5 points, 8 kills, 1 block assist, 1 dig

Morgan Netcott – 13 digs, 1 set assist

Paige Parlanti – 8.5 points, 8 kills, 1 block assist, 9 digs

Alexis Chrappa – 4.5 points, 4 kills, 1 block assist, 3 digs

Maecy Johnson – 1 point, 1 kill, 2 digs

Kennedy Sowell – 2 points, 2 kills

Tuana Turhan – 11.5 points, 2 aces, 7 kills, 5 block assists, 3 digs

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

Malgorzata Banasiak – 5 points, 3 kills, 1 solo block, 2 block assists, 2 digs