Trailblazers make a big statement with sweep of Mineral Area College

VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University Trailblazer volleyball team picked up a massive statement win Friday night at the Student Recreation Center at VU, sweeping Mineral Area College, who received votes to be in the top-20 National Rankings this week, 26-24, 25-23, 25-22.

The Blazers got the early advantage in set one after trading three-point scoring runs with the Cardinals. VU built a four-point lead at 16-12, which would hold throughout the middle stages of the match.

Mineral Area would battle back while facing set point however, using a 5-0 scoring run to even the score at 24-24 and force overtime in the opening set.

VU stepped up and closed out the first set with back-to-back points, taking set one 26-24 and grabbing an early 1-0 match lead over the Cardinals.

Set two began much like a high-level volleyball match should, with the two teams trading side outs before VU opened up a lead with an early 5-0 scoring run.

Mineral Area would answer back and even the score at 8-8 before taking their first lead of the set at 13-12.

Vincennes took the momentum back with a quick 3-0 run and built a 20-17 lead late in the set.

Mineral Area again came firing back, going on to outscore the Blazers 6-1 to take a 23-21 lead and looked to be in great shape to even the match.

The Trailblazers would rally however, closing out the set with four unanswered points to take set two 25-23 and grab the commanding 2-0 match lead.

Vincennes continued to ride this momentum into the third set, with the Blazers jumping out to a 13-5 advantage.

Mineral Area would fight back again with six unanswered points to cut the VU lead down to just two points.

VU would grow their lead back to six before Mineral Area went on a 7-2 scoring run to cut the Cardinal deficit down to 22-21.

This would be as close as Mineral Area would get though as VU took three of the next four points to take set three 25-22 and complete the sweep.

Friday's win marks VU's sixth straight victory and sixth straight sweep, with the Trailblazers now winning their last 18 sets played.

"Tonight definitely could have gone differently not only because we were not playing in our regular gym," VUVB Head Coach Gary Sien said. "I know the Rec Center is still on campus, but we don't practice in there very often. So, I liked how we were able to overcome that because it almost felt like an away game for us in there. But our facilities staff had everything set up very nicely, so I think it was better than the players thought it was going to be."

"Tonight was more of the things that we have been preaching all year," Sien added. "We have the length and the athletic ability to serve tough and really place the ball where we want it and our blocking game. I know we didn't have big blocking numbers tonight, but Mineral Area wasn't really hitting hard at us much tonight. We might not have had big numbers blocking, but our blocking played a big part in us getting the win."

"We also did a really good job in our off-blocker defense," Sien said. "Our wing defenders, the left-back and right-back played probably their best match of the season. At times, that's a very difficult position to play because the ball is being hit right at you. I thought that was the difference when you take those types of shots away from them. Mineral Area has some good hitters. They are really good directional hitters and they really showed that in their first match today against Spoon River. I thought we picked up really well on those roll shots and tips. That plays right into our hand and we want them to do that because our block is so big, when they do that, it takes longer for the ball to go over the block and makes it easier to dig."

"We ran a really nice offense too," Sien added. "When, as a team, you are able to hit .250, I'll take .250. Right now, we are hitting close to around .290, as a team, which is unheard of at any level you play. I always say that if we are in system, where we make good passes to our setters and they are able to make good choices, it's hard to stop us."

The VU offense was led by a big game at the net by freshman Laura Tavares (Meridia, Venezuela), who led the Blazers with 13 kills and three blocks, including two solo blocks, while also adding four digs.

Freshman Elisa Dalla Pozza (Vincenza, Italy) had a very impressive night serving the ball, finishing with a team-high four aces to go along with nine kills, two digs and one block.

Reigning NJCAA Division I Offensive Player of the Week sophomore Paige Parlanti (Las Vegas, Nev.) just missed out on another double-double, finishing with 15 digs, nine kills and two blocks.

Fellow sophomore Audrey Buis (Franklin, Ind.) also just missed out on a double-double, ending her night with 13 digs, eight kills and two aces.

Freshman Isadora Dias (Rio Grande de Norte, Brazil) and sophomore Kennedy Sowell (Effingham, Ill.) round out the VU offense with Dias recording five kills, one block and one dig, while Sowell finished with one kill and two blocks.

Sophomore setter Maecy Johnson had a big night running the VU offense, leading the Blazers with 26 set assists, five digs and a pair of aces.

Freshman Libby Mehringer (Jasper, Ind.) also helped run another very efficient offensive night for the Blazers, ending with 12 set assists, five digs and one ace.

Sophomore libero Morgan Netcott (Montague, Mich.) had another very strong night defensively for the Trailblazers, leading VU with 16 digs, while also adding one set assist.

"I thought Laura had a great match," Sien said. "They were camping out on the Player of the Week Paige. But we also have Laura. So, when they were camping out on Paige, we just kept going to Laura, then eventually we would go back to Paige to try to keep things a little more balanced out there. It was literally like asking Mineral Area to pick which one they were going to stop, because you can't stop them both. So that really opened things up for us and our setters made some good decisions."

"That's just part of the maturity of our setters and their understanding and knowing the situation," Sien added. "That's hard to do. Knowing what the situation is and adjusting to it on the fly. I thought Maecy had a great game. She was just exceptional. She made some good choices. She was holding their middle blocker. Her getting 26 set assists, in a 6-2 offense in three sets, that's pretty next level. She also played very well defensively and I thought she served well. She had an exceptional all-around match tonight."

"I also thought that Morgan had a very nice game," Sien said. "She made some key digs and hustle plays, where she was able to get to the second ball. I thought she covered the floor really well and really read the other team really well. I don't think they really served at her all that often and on defense they looked like they were trying to hit away from her, so maybe she didn't have that many digs, but she made some key hustle plays that helped give us that spark to win that rally. You can't have somebody out there better than her, not just because of her ability, but because of her leadership. That's priceless. You just can't buy that type of leadership. Her leadership out there was definitely invaluable for us in this match."

The Trailblazers will look to close out the weekend just as strong tomorrow, Saturday, Sept. 9 when VU closes out the 2023 Blazer Classic by facing off against Spoon River College at 11 a.m. eastern.

Vincennes will close out the weekend with a rematch against Jefferson College at 3 p.m. eastern. Jefferson also coming into this match after receiving votes in this week's top-20 National Rankings.

Other Blazer Classic results on Friday include Mineral Area winning over Spoon River College 25-12, 25-11, 25-20 and Spoon River won over Wabash Valley College three sets to one.

"We will definitely be playing two different types of teams tomorrow," Sien said. "Both are going to be competitive. We can't take anybody lightly. We have to take our match with Spoon River as seriously as we did with Mineral Area tonight. Then we are going to have to shift gears and really concentrate on a team that's definitely going to be good in Jefferson."

"I think with having played Jefferson already and it going to five sets, we have a pretty good idea of what they can do," Sien added. "But it's going to be more of we are going to emphasize somethings more in one match than the other. So it's really going to require us to really be mindful of who we are playing. But our team has been really good with that so far this year. Like last weekend at Owens, both days we started with matches against two ranked Division II teams and then our next match was against someone that was still pretty good, but not ranked and I don't think we missed a beat in all four matches."

"Not a lot of teams can do that," Sien said. "Sometimes teams have one mode and it's sink or swim, that's all they have. The thing I like about this team is that they do adapt very well to the competition. There have not been very many sets where I thought we didn't play at the level I thought we would. For such a young team, with eight freshmen, they have really played a very mature game so far through 11 matches. Even though we have eight freshmen, they don't play like freshmen and they have not played like freshmen since day one. As a two-year college coach, that could be the best compliment you could give a team."

BOX SCORE

Mineral Area – 24   23   22   x   x

VUVB (10-1, 4-0) – 26   25   25   x   x

VINCENNES STATS

Audrey Buis – 10 points, 2 aces, 8 kills, 13 digs

Morgan Netcott – 16 digs, 1 set assist

Paige Parlanti – 10 points, 9 kills, 2 block assists, 15 digs

Isadora Dias – 5.5 points, 5 kills, 1 block assist, 1 dig

Maecy Johnson – 2 points, 2 aces, 5 digs, 26 set assists

Kennedy Sowell – 2 points, 1 kill, 2 block assists

Elisa Dalla Pozza – 13.5 points, 4 aces, 9 kills, 1 block assist, 2 digs

Laura Tavares – 15.5 points, 13 kills, 2 solo blocks, 1 block assist, 4 digs

Libby Mehringer – 1 point, 1 ace, 5 digs, 12 set assists