Trailblazers extend winning streak with road Region 24 win at Wabash Valley

MT. CARMEL, Ill. – The Vincennes University volleyball team extended a number of streaks Wednesday night after defeating Wabash Valley College 25-11, 25-12, 25-12 in Mt. Carmel.

The Trailblazers have now won their last five matches, have won 15 sets in a row and extended their winning streak against Region 24 opponents to 28 matches with Wednesday night's sweep.

VU set the tone early in Mt. Carmel, jumping out to a big lead early in set one, opening up a 20-5 advantage in the first set.

Wabash Valley would look to string a run together late but were unable to cut into the Trailblazers lead with Vincennes taking set one 25-11 over the Warriors.

WVC looked to answer back at the start of set two, quickly building a three-point lead at 7-4 before VU would answer back and take the lead on a 6-0 scoring run aided by freshman Elisa Dalla Pozza (Vincenza, Italy).

Vincennes would ride this momentum into another big scoring run, closing out the set by outscoring the Warriors 13-2 and taking the second set over Wabash Valley 25-12.

Set three saw Vincennes take complete control of the match with a 7-0 scoring run by freshman Libby Mehringer (Jasper, Ind.) to build an early 12-3 advantage.

Wabash Valley would battle back and cut the VU lead down to six before VU would go on an 8-1 scoring run to help put the match away as the Blazers took set three 25-12, completing the road Region 24 sweep of the Warriors.

"We were aggressive in all parts of the game tonight," VUVB Head Coach Gary Sien said. "Starting with our serving and then we were able to use that to help stop their offense. This allowed us to face more shots that are not hit too hard that are easier to control, which allowed us to go from defense to offense."

"I told the team after the game that our serving was really next level out there," Sien added. "That took Wabash Valley out of the game completely. When they would go on a little run, we would come back with some strong serves. I really liked the way we served out there tonight. We have some servers that serve really hard and go for some aces, but we also have servers that are more strategic and can place the ball in certain areas of the floor. That was definitely a big part of our game tonight."

"I felt like we won a majority of the hustle plays," Sien said. "There were maybe a handful of plays where the ball went back and forth, people were diving all over the court and I thought we won a majority of those hustle plays. Even if we didn't win it, we were still in it."

"When you play anyone, you have to play hard," Sien added. "No matter what the score is on the scoreboard, you need to play hard and I thought tonight was a result of how hard we played, that we were going after every single ball out there. It could have been easy to relax at times but we pretty much kept the same intensity the entire match."

"Wabash Valley made some runs at us, everybody's going to do that, but we really responded well," Sien said. "Especially in the second set. Early on they had a three-point lead but then we came back and scored six in a row. We are definitely in the game, regardless of the scoreboard."

The Blazers were led offensively by NJCAA Division I Offensive Player of the Week sophomore Paige Parlanti (Las Vegas, Nev.) who led VU with 10 kills, seven digs and two aces.

Elisa Dalla Pozza had a tremendous all-around game, filling up the stat sheet with six kills, four digs, three blocks, three aces and one set assist.

Freshman Laura Tavares (Merida, Venezuela) added five kills and two blocks, while sophomore Audrey Buis (Franklin, Ind.) finished the night with three kills, eight digs, two aces and one solo block.

Freshman Isadora Dias (Rio Grande de Norte, Brazil) helped control the play at the net with three kills and three blocks, while sophomore blocker Kennedy Sowell (Effingham, Ill.) and freshman blocker Allison Czyzewski (Louisville, Ill.) finished with one kill each, with Sowell adding one block.

Sophomore setter Maecy Johnson (Chrisman, Ill.) helped guide the VU offense all night, finishing with a team-high 17 set assists, six digs and one kill.

Freshman setter Libby Mehringer also ran the Vincennes offense very efficiently, finishing with nine set assists, three digs and three aces.

Sophomore libero Morgan Netcott (Montague, Mich.) added some big help defensively in the back row, leading VU with 10 digs, while added a pair of set assists.

Freshman Grace Flexter (Oblong, Ill.) made some big plays on the floor defensively, finishing her night with two digs.

The Trailblazers will return home this weekend when VU hosts the annual Blazer Classic Friday Sept. 8 and Saturday, Sept. 9.

Vincennes will begin the weekend Friday against Ancilla College at 3 p.m. eastern before facing Mineral Area College at 7 p.m. eastern.

The weekend will conclude on Saturday with VU taking on Spoon River College at 11 a.m. eastern and a rematch against Jefferson College at 3 p.m. eastern.

Both Mineral Area College and Jefferson College received votes this week in the NJCAA Division I National Rankings.

"Of course, you want to get better every time you play," Sien said. "I thought after last Tuesday's match at Jefferson we were a different team on Friday and Saturday. I thought we learned quite a bit from that game and played very together against two very good teams this past weekend. Tonight, I thought we played a different type of team and still played them well."

"This weekend is a great opportunity for us," Sien added. "How often do you get the chance to play two teams like that at home and have two chances to really leave your mark Nationally? The challenge for us is there, now what are we going to do about it. Because this is probably the only chance we will have this year to play two quality teams like Mineral Area and Jefferson at home. I don't know of any script for any movie than the one that is written for us this weekend."

BOX SCORE

VUVB (9-1, 4-0) – 25   25   25   x   x

Wabash Valley – 11   12   12   x   x

INDIVIDUAL STATS

Grace Flexter – 2 digs

Audrey Buis – 6 points, 2 aces, 3 kills, 1 solo block, 8 digs

Morgan Netcott – 10 digs, 2 set assists

Paige Parlanti – 12 points, 2 aces, 10 kills, 7 digs

Isadora Dias – 5 points, 3 kills, 1 solo block, 2 block assists

Allison Czyzewski – 1 point, 1 kill

Maecy Johnson – 1 point, 1 kill, 6 digs, 17 set assists

Kennedy Sowell – 1.5 points, 1 kill, block assist

Elisa Dalla Pozza – 11 points, 3 aces, 6 kills, 1 solo block, 2 block assists, 4 digs, 1 set assist

Laura Tavares – 6 points, 5 kills, 2 block assists

Libby Mehringer – 3 points, 3 aces, 3 digs, 9 set assists