VINCENNES, Ind. – The No. 19-ranked Vincennes University Trailblazer volleyball team picked up another big Region 24 sweep Thursday night at the Student Recreation Center at VU, sweeping Lincoln Trail College 25-20, 25-21, 25-10.
The Blazers have now extended their winning streak to 10 matches and continue to build on an already impressive winning streak against Region 24 opponents, which now sits at 30.
Vincennes got off to a slow start Thursday night, with the two teams trading a series of 3-0 scoring runs before VU would grab their first lead of the night with a 6-0 scoring run to take a 12-8 lead.
Lincoln Trail immediately answered to even the score and later took the lead back at 17-15 before VU again responded with a 5-0 run to take a 20-17 lead.
The Statesmen would look to answer back again, cutting the deficit to one, before VU closed out the set on a 3-0 run by freshman Libby Mehringer (Jasper, Ind.) as Vincennes took set one 25-20.
Set two began as another back-and-forth battle before VU took the momentum by outscoring Lincoln Trail 10-1 and holding a 21-14 lead.
Lincoln Trail would again look to rally back late in the set but were unable to put together a big scoring run as VU closed out set two 25-21 and took a 2-0 match lead.
The Trailblazers completely took control of the match in the third set after a massive 12-0 scoring run by sophomore libero Morgan Netcott (Montague, Mich.) gave VU an early 12-1 lead.
Vincennes would continue to ride this momentum throughout the remainder of the set, using a 4-0 scoring run and closing out the match on a 3-0 scoring run to take set three and complete the sweep 25-10 over the Statesmen.
"Firstly, I just want to thank the Student Recreation Center staff, Michael Taylor, Earl Potter," VUVB Head Coach Gary Sien said. "I also want to thank the VU Physical Plant and Brian Sewers for having the facility ready for us over this past weekend and tonight. They have done an exceptional job of getting the entire facility game ready, getting the sound system set up and it really almost felt like a regular home game at the P.E. Complex in there tonight."
"10 wins in a row is pretty good, obviously," Sien added. "Also having a chance to avenge, so to speak, our only loss so far this season, which you don't always get that opportunity, so that was nice to be able to do that as well."
"I don't know how it was when other teams were winning championships in the Region, I believe John A. Logan won something like four in a row, I don't know if they had a streak of any number of games in a row of winning within the Region during that," Sien said. "But that is always going to be difficult, especially when it expands to more than a year. We are on our third year and every year it's a different team, so it's like we are on our third generation of team members and for them to continue to pick up where the previous two teams left off, that takes some doing."
"I think that any time, at this level, when you try to continue a winning streak over multiple seasons it's tougher because you have to educate the team every year and they have to know exactly what it means and the importance of it," Sien added. "They have to come in knowing this is a Region game. We have to put our heart into it. We have to put our whole effort into it. We are not just doing this to continue the streak, but we are also out here playing for the teams and the players that came before."
"It's tough, Tuesday night we were coming off of being Nationally ranked and then we had to go into John A. Logan's gym and not only win, but to continue the streak," Sien said. "It's something that we mention around here from time to time, but it's not necessarily something that I emphasize. So credit to the team for taking it to heart and continuing to make it where that is so important to educate the newcomers every year."
The VU offense was led by another double-double by sophomore Paige Parlanti (Las Vegas, Nev.), who finished her night with 12 kills, 10 digs and four blocks.
Sophomore Audrey Buis (Franklin, Ind.) and freshman Isadora Dias (Rio Grande de Norte, Brazil) each ended the match with seven kills, with Buis just missing a double-double with 11 digs, one block and one set assist, while Dias ended with three blocks.
Freshmen Laura Tavares (Meridia, Venezuela) and Elisa Dalla Pozza (Vincenza, Italy) really controlled the game at the net all match long, with Tavares ending with five kills, nine blocks and two digs, while Dalla Pozza ended with four kills, a staggering 13 blocks and two digs.
Sophomore Kennedy Sowell (Effingham, Ill.) rounds out the VU offense with a pair of kills to go along with one block and one dig.
The VU offense was set up by the setter duo of freshman Libby Mehringer and sophomore Maecy Johnson (Chrisman, Ill.).
Mehringer led the way tonight for the Blazers, finishing with a team-high 19 set assists and four digs, while Johnson finished her night with 16 set assists, one dig and one kill.
Sophomore libero Morgan Netcott had another big defensive night in the back row for the Blazers, leading VU with 22 digs, two set assists and two aces.
"I knew from recruiting everybody from top to bottom that we will have the ability to block," Sien said after his team recorded 31 total blocks on the night. "That's such a difficult skill to learn because you can do everything correctly textbook wise and still have a ball ricochet off your hands. That's why it's such a frustrating skill."
"But we really wanted to control the net out there tonight," Sien added. "We knew that both of their outsides really like to pound that cross-court shot, so we moved our block more in and one of two things happened, either it got blocked or we just funneled the ball to our left back. Morgan did such a great job and was pretty much spot on at getting to nearly every single ball. She took some shots out there, some of those were hit pretty hard and she was able to keep the ball up."
"But that's just the type of player that she is," Sien said. "She is definitely one of the best liberos in the Region. I feel very comfortable having the blocks funnel all of the shots to her because it's almost automatic. She's such a tough kid. I love the way she plays and I really love her mentality. I love her mentality. That's really something that everybody on the team can learn from."
"When we have those two things going, both blocking and defense back row, it's really hard to score on us and we really saw that in the third set tonight," Sien added. "I think we weren't as consistent at getting our blocks out there. It maybe took us about a set and a half to really get adjusted to it and when we did it really just went into what our system does."
"Another part of tonight's match was that I thought we serve received better," Sien said. "We serve receive okay, I thought we did better today than we did on Tuesday. But there were still points where we were passing the ball straight up and you don't really have the same offense when the pass is 10 to 15 feet off the net. Tonight, we were really able to pass the ball better, whether it was serve receiving or in transition and that really allowed us to run our offense tonight. Like I always say and I'm sure I've said it 10 times already this year, when we are in system, it's really hard to stop us. You need more than three blockers out there to do so."
The Trailblazers are idle this weekend and will return to the floor Tuesday, Sept. 19 when VU travels to Centralia, Ill. to take on another Region 24 opponent Kaskaskia College. This match is set to begin at 7 p.m. eastern.
Vincennes will then head down to Hanceville, Ala. to take part in the Wallace State Community College Fall Bash next weekend, Friday, Sept. 22 and Saturday, Sept. 23.
"We do need some time off, of course, just to get some rest," Sien said. "As well as getting back into their academics here too. All of our players carry pretty heavy course loads, so this is definitely a good time for that. My thing that I have talked to the team about is that we have to keep everything in mind. We do have this really tough match coming up on Tuesday and another tough weekend coming up in Alabama. Let's not lose what we just built and it's almost like you don't want to stop playing but I do understand that we need to have a break here."
"I believe that the team will take it to heart," Sien added. "They will be mindful of what's at stake. Yesterday we had probably the best practice we've had all year. It was a near perfect practice and yes there were some ups and downs out there tonight, but imagine if hadn't just had that practice, it could have been different out there."
"I do really appreciate the team taking it to heart that this is a moment that doesn't come around often," Sien said. "The last time we were ranked was in 2017 and that was like a lifetime ago. I've said that I'm not going to take it for granted that this will happen again next year. I'm not concerned about that right now, I'm more concerned about right now at this very moment. We have to take this moment here now and take it to heart, be mindful of it and really appreciate it and the team responded with a near perfect practice out here yesterday. I really appreciate that part of this team."
"I love the leadership we have right now," Sien added. "The sophomores are really stepping up and sharing what they have and teaching from their experiences a year ago. I even liked how we handled ourselves out there on the floor tonight. There were moments where Lincoln Trail was really taking it to us and I thought we were really able to bounce back right away and not let it affect us. I thought we really held together out there. A couple of players made a mistake and they just turned around, had a big smile on their face and it was on to the next play. I really like that about this team that they are able to bounce back so quickly."
BOX SCORE
Lincoln Trail – 20 21 10 x x
VUVB (14-1, 6-0) – 25 25 25 x x
VINCENNES STATS
Audrey Buis – 8 points, 7 kills, 1 solo block, 11 digs, 1 set assist
Morgan Netcott – 2 points, 2 aces, 22 digs, 2 set assists
Paige Parlanti – 14 points, 12 kills, 4 block assists, 10 digs
Isadora Dias – 8.5 points, 7 kills 3 block assists
Maecy Johnson – 1 point, 1 kill, 1 dig, 16 set assists
Kennedy Sowell – 2.5 points, 2 kills, 1 block assist, 1 dig
Elisa Dalla Pozza – 10.5 points, 4 kills, 13 block assists, 2 digs
Laura Tavares – 9.5 points, 5 kills, 9 block assists, 2 digs
Libby Mehringer – 4 digs, 19 set assists
