No. 1 seed Trailblazers advance to Region 24 Championship with sweep over No. 4 Lincoln Trail

CENTRALIA, Ill. – The No. 1-seeded Vincennes University volleyball team began their postseason run Friday afternoon at the NJCAA Division I Region 24 Tournament hosted by Kaskaskia College.

The Blazers earned the No. 1 seed in this weekend's tournament after finishing the regular season with an undefeated 12-0 record in Region 24 play.

Vincennes took the court Friday afternoon for their first postseason match in a semi-final match against No. 4 seed Lincoln Trail College.

The day got off to a rough start for the Blazers, with sophomore middle Kennedy Sowell (Effingham, Ill.) suffering an injury during warmups which took her out of the lineup.

The match began as a back-and-forth battle, with Lincoln Trail having already played once Friday against No. 5 seed Lake Land College.

VU grabbed the early lead with a 6-1 scoring run to take a 16-9 advantage.

Lincoln Trail would look to answer back late but were unable to put together a scoring run of their own as the Trailblazers took set one of the match 25-15 to take the early 1-0 lead.

Vincennes was again the first to break away in set two, scoring four unanswered to take an 8-4 lead.

Lincoln Trail would answer back this time however, cutting the VU down to one at 9-8.

The Trailblazers would then outscore the Lady Statesmen 8-2 to take a big 17-10 lead, which would stand for the rest of the set as VU came away with set two 25-17 to take a 2-0 match lead.

Vincennes continued to ride the momentum of the match into set three, using five unanswered points to take an early 5-1 lead and later extending the lead with a 4-0 scoring run to take a 9-3 advantage.

VU kept on the attack after Lincoln Trail cut the lead down to 16-11 as VU would go on to outscore LTC 9-2 to take set three 25-13 and complete the three set sweep over Lincoln Trail College.

"The team did an excellent job after Kennedy's injury," VUVB Head Coach Gary Sien said. "My heart breaks for her. She worked very hard all year. But the team went on and played a pretty seamless game despite the long layoff. We ball controlled, served and blocked very well."

The VU offense was led by sophomores Paige Parlanti (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Audrey Buis (Franklin, Ind.), with Parlanti putting together a really good all around game with 11 kills, seven digs, four blocks and three aces, while Buis just missed out on a double-double with nine kills, eight digs and two blocks.

Freshman Elisa Dalla Pozza (Vincenza, Italy) had a very good all around game, filling the stats sheet with seven kills, a team-high six blocks, four digs, three aces and one set assist.

Freshman Laura Tavares (Merida, Venezuela) finished off her night with four kills, three blocks, one dig and one ace, while fellow freshman Isadora Dias (Rio Grande de Norte, Brazil) ended with four kills and three blocks.

Sophomore setter Maecy Johnson (Chrisman, Ill.) ran another very efficient game to finish with 28 set assists, five digs, one ace and one block.

Sophomore libero Morgan Netcott (Montague, Mich.) controlled the VU back row defense to finish the night with 13 digs and one set assist.

Freshmen Dylan DeCoursey (Montgomery, Ind.) and Grace Flexter (Oblong, Ill.) entered the game to add some extra help defensively in the back row, with DeCoursey adding three digs and Flexter recording two digs.

"Isadora came in for Kennedy in the middle and did a very good job," Sien said. "Elisa had big numbers in herb locks and hitting with no errors. All the hitters, like Paige and Audrey, had great numbers as the sets were evenly distributed."

"We passed exceptionally," Sien added. "So Maecy was able to run a very balanced offense."

The Trailblazers will now have a quick turn around before the NJCAA Division I Region 24 Championship match tomorrow afternoon at 2:30 p.m. eastern against No. 2 seed John A. Logan College.

No. 3 Kaskaskia College will also take on No. 4 Lincoln Trail College in the third-place game tomorrow, slated to begin at 12 p.m. eastern.

"It is a toss-up in the Kaskaskia, John A. Logan match, either team could win it," Sien said. "We just have to be ready for a dogfight tomorrow. Everything we did during the season is tossed out the window and it boils down to just one match for this whole thing."

Other results from the day include, No. 4 Lincoln Trail winning over No. 5 Lake Land College 25-19, 25-22, 25-18, No. 3 Kaskaskia College winning over No. 6 Wabash Valley 25-16, 25-18, 25-15 and No. 2 John A. Logan winning over No. 3 Kaskaskia College 25-17, 25-14, 25-21.

BOX SCORE

No. 4 Lincoln Trail – 15   17   13   x   x

VUVB (30-6, 13-0) – 25   25   25   x   x

VINCENNES STATS

Grace Flexter – 2 digs

Audrey Buis – 10 points, 9 kills, 2 block assists, 8 digs

Dylan DeCoursey – 3 digs

Morgan Netcott – 13 digs, 1 set assist

Paige Parlanti – 16.5 points, 3 aces, 11 kills, 1 solo block, 3 block assists, 7 digs

Isadora Dias – 5.5 points, 4 kills, 3 block assists

Maecy Johnson – 1.5 points, 1 ace, 1 block assist, 5 digs, 28 set assists

Elisa Dalla Pozza – 13 points, 3 aces, 7 kills, 6 blocks assists, 4 digs, 1 set assist

Laura Tavares – 6.5 points, 1 ace, 4 kills, 3 block assists, 1 dig