Trailblazers drop five set thriller to John A. Logan College

VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University volleyball returned home Friday night for the first time in two weeks and treated the fans to a very exciting Region 24 showdown with John A. Logan College.

Unfortunately for the Trailblazers, VU came out on the wrong end of Friday night's match, falling to the Volunteers 22-25, 25-20, 25-11, 23-25, 10-15.

The match got off to an excellent start for the Blazers, quickly building an early 14-8 lead over John A. Logan in the first set.

The Vols would rally back late in set one though with the aid of a 9-1 scoring run to take a 22-19 lead and close out set one 25-22 to take a 1-0 match lead.

Looking to bounce back on their home floor, the Blazers found themselves in a back-and-forth battle in set two.

VU was able to grab the upper hand with a 4-0 scoring run before closing out the set with another four unanswered points to even the match 1-1 with a 25-20 set two victory.

Vincennes continued to ride this momentum into set three, building a big 8-2 early advantage before pulling away late with a big 10-2 scoring run to grab a 2-1 match lead with a big 25-11 win in set three.

The Trailblazers continued to roll into set four where they again grabbed the early lead with a 10-2 margin on the scoreboard.

John A. Logan would chip away at this deficit however and use a 5-0 scoring run to jump in front late and force a winner-take-all fifth set by taking set four going the distance 25-23.

Set five began as another back-and-forth battle, before the Volunteers scored four straight to swing the momentum with a 10-5 lead.

Vincennes would again look to answer back on their home floor but were unable to overcome the deficit as John A. Logan closed out the match in the fifth set 15-10 to take the match 3-2.

"I thought we played hard," VUVB Head Coach Gary Sien said. "I thought we played well 90 percent of the time. But against a good team and a good defensive team like them, it's got to be more than 90 percent. Towards the end of the fourth set, we just stopped playing. We had a big lead early on and led most of that and then we stopped being aggressive, didn't take as many swings. Then the fifth set was a continuation from the end of the fourth set."

"We can't just be satisfied with 90 percent," Sien added. "We had several crucial moments during the fifth set where we needed a kill and we just didn't get it. Just one kill could have led to two, three and suddenly we're on a run. We should have won the match in the fourth set, if not earlier because I thought we played well in the first set as well. In a long match like this was, it has to be from beginning to end. We have to be able to finish and finish aggressively out there."

The Trailblazers offense was again led by the sophomore hitting duo of Laura Tavares (Merida, Venezuela) and Isadora Dias (Rio Grande de Norte, Brazil).

Tavares led the Blazers with 12 kills, four blocks and two aces, while Dias notched another double-double with 11 kills, 14 digs, two blocks and one set assist.

Freshman Paulina Fister (Tuszyn, Poland) just missed out on a double-double of her own, finishing the night with nine kills, 13 digs, two blocks and one ace.

Sophomores Allison Czyzewski (Louisville, Ill.) and Elisa Dalla Pozza (Vincenza, Italy) each recorded six kills on the night, with Czyzewski adding a set assist and Dalla Pozza filling up the stats sheet with three blocks, three digs, two aces and one set assist.

Freshman Martyna Sadowska (Pila, Poland) rounded out the VU offensive numbers with five kills and three blocks on the night.

Sophomore setters Libby Mehringer (Jasper, Ind.) and Dylan DeCoursey (Montgomery, Ind.) moved the ball around all night, with Mehringer finishing with 30 set assists, four digs and one ace, while DeCoursey added 21 set assists, one dig and one ace.

Sophomore libero Grace Flexter (Oblong, Ill.) led the back row defense again for the Blazers, finishing the night with a team-high 19 digs to go along with a pair of set assists and two aces.

"I thought Grace not only had the numbers in digs but I thought she also serve received very well," Sien said. "I thought our middles connected pretty well overall tonight. We discussed that before the game that we need to get the ball to the middle more often just to keep the block honest. Our pins had a really tough job putting away the ball because they had two blockers on them the majority of the time. Against a good blocking team and a good defense, if you don't have that middle presence consistently, they are just going to ignore our middles."

The Trailblazers will look to bounce back after a short turnaround when VU hits the floor tomorrow, Saturday, Sept. 28 in Champaign, Ill. for the Parkland College Fall Challenge.

Vincennes will begin their day against NJCAA Division II No. 5-ranked Heartland Community College at 4 p.m. eastern, before ending the weekend against Lincoln Land Community College at 6 p.m. eastern.

"We are going to have to think about tonight and try to take as much positive from it as possible," Sien said. "We did play hard for most of the match and a few plays here and there we probably should have won. We have to learn that we have to go from beginning to end against good teams. We have to learn from tonight and have a very short memory because we can't keep carrying a loss with us. We just don't have the time to that."

"Somehow, some way, we have to get our confidence back," Sien added. "Both with ourselves and with each other and get back to that mindset that I saw last weekend at Wallace State where we played extremely well that I thought we could have beaten almost anybody. It's a short turn around playing again tomorrow, so we don't have a choice but to have a short memory."

BOX SCORE

John A. Logan – 25   20   11   25   15

VUVB (14-6, 6-2) – 22   25   25   23   10

VINCENNES STATS

Grace Flexter – 2 points, 2 aces, 19 digs, 2 set assists

Paulina Fister – 11 points, 1 ace, 9 kills, 2 block assists, 13 digs

Dylan DeCoursey – 1 point, 1 ace, 1 dig, 21 set assists

Laura Tavares – 15.5 points, 12 kills, 3 solo blocks, 1 block assist, 2 digs

Isadora Dias – 12 points, 11 kills, 2 block assists, 14 digs, 1 set assist

Allison Czyzewski – 6 points, 6 kills, 1 set assist

Martyna Sadowska – 7 points, 5 kills, 1 solo block, 2 block assists

Elisa Dalla Pozza – 9.5 points, 2 aces, 6 kills, 3 block assists, 3 digs, 1 set assist

Libby Mehringer – 1 point, 1 ace, 4 digs, 30 set assists