VUVB’s quest for four straight Region titles begins tomorrow

VINCENNES, Ind. – The Fall 2024 Vincennes University Volleyball season is set to begin Thursday, Aug. 22 when the Trailblazers open the season at the Physical Education Complex against Wabash Valley College.

This is the first of three straight Region 24 games for the Blazers to begin the season as VU looks to claim their fourth straight Region 24 Championship, while also entering the season with a 38 game winning streak against Region 24 opponents.

"We are definitely still a work in progress," VUVB Head Coach Gary Sien said. "We have a lot of newcomers in key positions and just like every other year it's a whole new team and it's a really challenging situation. I cannot think of a more challenging position than to play or coach a fall sport at a two year college. We have two or three weeks maximum to get ready for our first regular season game and we're going over systems and techniques that they have possibly never gone over before."

"But, if I look at it from day one to now, we are definitely ahead of schedule from where I thought we would be," Sien added. "It has been really nice to have a number of returners in key positions. Seven returners is probably the most we've had in the last few years. But everybody has to come in with the willingness to learn. One of my slogans every year is 'Come ready and willing'. You have to have both, you can't just have one of those."

The 2024 Trailblazers will be led by seven returning sophomores from last year's team, including sophomores Grace Flexter (Oblong, Ill.), Dylan DeCoursey (Montgomery, Ind.), Laura Tavares (Merida, Venezuela), Isadora Dias (Rio Grande de Norte, Brazil), Allison Czyzewski (Louisville, Ill.), Elisa Dalla Pozza (Vincenza, Italy) and Libby Mehringer (Jasper, Ind.).

"Every year begins and ends with leadership," Sien said. "That has to take place and it has to come from our returning sophomores. We don't have a choice. We don't have another group with experience to depend on. Overall, so far, this sophomore group has taken that challenge and really run with it. They have done a really good job so far of literally taking the newcomers under their wings."

"When we talk about leadership, we obviously mean the volleyball part of it, but it also covers the other parts of being a student-athlete as well like the academics and social part of being a student," Sien added. "They have also been very active in helping during practice or during a drill. We've got another tough schedule this year with adding three new Region teams to an already full schedule. We are not going to have as many breaks as we have had in the past. Everyone has to do all they can to stay healthy, not just from injuries but general health."

"Grace had a really good spring season and got a lot of playing time as a libero," Sien said. "The challenge for her is to be comfortable using both over hand and under hand passing. She will definitely have a good opportunity to get the starting libero position and one good thing about her is that she really works well with the newcomers."

"Dylan also got some more playing time during the spring season," Sien added. "Just like any setter, the challenge for her is making the right choices. But I thought she also had a really good spring season and was able to just get more opportunities to play, which is always good."

"I expect big things from Laura," Sien said. "She's that one terminator as a hitter. When she has a good approach and gets a good set, it's really hard to block or dig her. We'll see her float around in a couple of different positions depending on our needs this season. But she is going to be someone that we really rely on as one of the main hitters."

"We're going to give Isadora an opportunity to be out there in all six rotations," Sien added. "We graduated both of our outsides from last year that we had for the past two years, so we are going to give her an opportunity to fill that spot and play all six rotations. Not only playing front row but playing a lot of back row and serving. She did it last year at Wallace State and made the All-Tournament team, so we do see that potential there."

"Allison also had more opportunities to play in the spring and had a good spring season," Sien said. "She got an opportunity to play some defense in the preseason and serving and really excelled in that too. She's a really coachable player in terms of passing and getting good angles to direct the ball to a point, she's someone who does that extremely well and hasn't played a whole lot of back row before."

"Elisa is our sole returning All-Region player from last year," Sien added. "So she is also someone that we are going to rely a lot upon this season. She was second in the country in blocks per set and third in the NJCAA in total blocks last season. We expect a lot of big things from her and so far she is having a very good preseason. She's been working on learning different shots to make it even tougher to stop her at the net."

"Libby is coming off of a great fall and spring season last year after not playing her senior year of high school because of an injury," Sien said. "She recovered really well and continues to make progress. She can really run on offense and just like all of our setters, it's not only about having good location but making good choices with the ball, knowing when someone is hot, being able to watch the defense and the blockers. She makes some very good decisions out there. There is a possibility that we could need her to hit front row, so she has that part of the game to offer too."

"All of our sophomores can really contribute in every position," Sien added. "I don't think I've ever had a year where we've had a returning group of sophomores that can really cover all positions. So that makes this group unique."

The Blazers will also be looking to get some key contributions from their class of newcomers this season, Tiara Sands (Zephyrhills, Fla.), Paulina Fister (Tuszyn, Poland), Rylee Edwards (Fairfield, Ill.), Julianna Rettig (Antioch, Ill.), Brooklyn Summers (Loogootee, Ind.), Ashley Earp (Mattoon, Ill.), Martyna Sadowska (Pila, Poland) and Karen Kodi (West Carrollton, Ohio).

"There is a lot of learning involved in this program," Sien said. "These newcomers just have to stay on it and be patient because they will get it. You can't get frustrated because it is a lot of new things being taught. I don't expect them to get it right away, but I do expect them to make some progress."

"We are still a team in progress," Sien added. "Even in our scrimmages this year, we've probably started with playing the toughest team we've played all year in St. Mary of the Woods but we want to play teams in the preseason that are older than us."

Vincennes will look to improve on their outstanding 2023 season, which saw VU finish the season with a record of 32-7, reaching the NJCAA Division I District Championship game for the first time in program history, reaching their highest National Ranking in Division I program history and capturing VU's third straight undefeated Region 24 Championship along the way.

"We will need all 15 players at some point in the season because of our schedule," Sien said. "Everybody is going to be gunning for us. It doesn't matter who we play, we know we are going to get everybody's best game and everybody is going to be motivated to get us."

"Any time you do something 'in a row' whether it's two, three, four or 10 times, it's a great achievement especially at this level where you have a new team every year," Sien added. "The three teams that won the Region titles, none of them came back in their entirety the next year. For us or anyone to repeat at this level, I don't think there's anything harder to do in any sport at our level."

"I think it's extremely important to acknowledge because it's hard enough to win it one time let alone three possibly going on four," Sien said. "Our newcomers for this year will have to learn that. This is kind of the mark of this program. We literally hang our hats on these achievements. We are chasing history. Winning four straight Region titles has only ever been done one time. So we go for this one, try to get it and then if we do, we go for the next one. If it's something that's been done before, we want to do it and then do it one better. So winning the Region Championship is definitely a top priority for us going into this year. We always say, if winning was easy, everybody would do it. So we don't take winning for granted.

VU will open the season inside the Physical Education Complex Thursday, Aug. 22 when VU hosts Wabash Valley College at 7 p.m. eastern.

The Blazers will then continue their Region 24 schedule Saturday, Aug. 24 when VU hosts Shawnee Community College for a doubleheader with game one of the day set to begin at 12 p.m. eastern.