Trailblazers close out Showdown on the Wabash with pair of sweeps

VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University volleyball team finished out another packed weekend of competition by sweeping their two matches Saturday to close out the 2024 Showdown on the Wabash tournament.

VU began the day with a three-set sweep over St. Louis Community College 25-19, 25-13, 25-18 before closing out the tournament with a sweep over Calhoun Community College 25-11, 25-18, 25-14.

Vincennes got the morning started off strong against St. Louis C.C., scoring the first six points of the match to open an early lead.

The Archers would answer back and even the score at 7-7 before VU built their lead back to 19-12 later in the set.

St. Louis fought hard in the first set but were unable to overcome the deficit as Vincennes grabbed set one of the day 25-19 to take an early 1-0 match lead.

VU began set two the same way set one began, opening the set with seven straight points and building a commanding 12-2 advantage over St. Louis.

The Archers would again battle but were unable to cut into the VU lead as a late 6-0 scoring run helped seal VU's set two victory 25-13, giving the Blazers a 2-0 lead in the match.

St. Louis looked determined to avoid the sweep early in set three, holding their first lead of the match and gaining a quick 9-4 advantage over VU, before the Blazers rallied back with an 8-1 scoring run to take a 12-10 lead.

The two teams traded points and small scoring runs before VU closed out the set by scoring six of the final seven points to take set three 25-18 and complete the sweep over the Archers.

"We always talk about with these two day tournaments at this level that there are not many hours between our last match yesterday and our first match today," VUVB Head Coach Gary Sien said. "It's not a lot of time to recover physically, mentally and emotionally. So these weekends are always a great challenge just because of the schedule."

"It definitely says a lot about this team that after losing an emotional match last night and come back today and respond in such a great way," Sien added. "They could have easily just not shown up today and gone through the motions. This game is so mental and emotional. When you touch that ball even for that microsecond, it has to be perfect and if your mind is not right, it can be pretty off. No other sport has that."

The VU offense was led by sophomores Laura Tavares (Merida, Venezuela) and Elisa Dalla Pozza (Vincenza, Italy) against the Archers.

Tavares led the team with nine kills, three digs and one block, while Dalla Pozza came away with eight kills, three digs, two blocks and one ace.

Sophomore Isadora Dias (Rio Grande de Norte, Brazil) finished the match with four kills, two blocks and one dig, while freshman Paulina Fister (Tuszyn, Poland) filled up the stats sheet with three kills, nine digs, one block, one ace and one set assist.

Freshman Martyna Sadowska (Pila, Poland) rounds out the VU offensive numbers with one kill, one block and one set assist.

Sophomore setter Libby Mehringer (Jasper, Ind.) controlled the game not only from the setter position but from the service line as well, finishing the match with 14 set assists, four aces, four digs and one kill.

Freshman setter Rylee Edwards (Fairfield, Ill.) came away with five set assists and three digs, along with sophomore setter Dylan DeCoursey (Montgomery, Ind.) who came away with three set assists.

The VU back row defense was again led by sophomore libero Grace Flexter (Oblong, Ill.) who finished with six digs, while freshman Ashley Earp (Mattoon, Ill.) added four digs in the match.

Sophomore Allison Czyzewski (Louisville, Ill.) rounded out the Trailblazer box score against St. Louis, finishing the match with a pair of blocks and one set assist.

The Trailblazers returned to the court Saturday afternoon for the final match of the tournament against Calhoun Community College from Alabama.

Vincennes again continued their trend of getting off to fast starts in set one, quickly building an 11-4 lead before cruising down the stretch by outscoring the Warhawks 9-2 to take the opening set 25-11 and gain the 1-0 match lead.

VU again got off to a great start in set two, once again led by sophomore Libby Mehringer, the Blazers opened set two with nine straight points.

Calhoun would look to rally back and were able to cut the VU lead down to three at 16-13 but the Blazers answered back with five straight and would close out set two 25-18 to take a 2-0 lead over the Warhawks.

Set three began as more of a back-and-forth battle with the two teams trading points before VU started to slowly build a lead over Calhoun.

Vincennes was able to put the match away with a late 6-0 scoring run as VU took set three 25-14, going wire-to-wire against the Warhawks to complete the three set sweep.

"It was also a great response against Calhoun, who was just coming off of a tough five set match before ours to just really take it to them right away," Sien said. "We've been in similar situations coming off of a five set win or loss. When that happens, one of two things is likely going to happen, either they are going to ride that momentum of that win or they could just be emotionally spent. So our goal was to just go out there and hit them with everything we've got and not give them a chance to recover."

"We rode that momentum throughout the entire match," Sien added. "One thing about volleyball is that there is stoppage. So each time you begin a new set, it's almost like starting the game over again. Your mind has to be ready all the time and, in both matches and all six sets today, we were on task. Credit to everybody on the team to be able to respond that way, put aside what happened last night. Learn from it but move on. It was definitely a good day for us in our last home tournament of the year."

The Trailblazer offense was again led by sophomore middle Elisa Dalla Pozza who filled up the box score with 10 kills, four blocks, two aces, two set assists and one dig.

Laura Tavares continued her big weekend with seven kills, one block and one dig, while Martyna Sadowska added three kills, two blocks and one dig.

Paulina Fister, Isadora Dias and Allison Czyzewski each finished the match with two kills, with Fister adding five digs, three aces and two set assists, Dias finishing with five digs, one block and one set assist and Czyzewski ending the weekend with one block and one dig.

Libby Mehringer had another outstanding match both from the setter position and serving, just missing out on a double-double with 18 set assists, nine digs and four aces.

Rylee Edwards pitched in at the setter position and came very close to another double-double of her own with nine set assists and eight digs.

Grace Flexter led the way defensively for the Blazers with eight digs and four set assists, while freshman Julianna Rettig ended the match with three digs.

The Trailblazers will be on the road next week as VU prepares to head to Carterville, Ill. for a Region 24 rematch against John A. Logan College Tuesday, Oct. 8 at 7 p.m. eastern.

Vincennes will then hit the road again Friday, Oct. 11 and Saturday, Oct. 12 as VU takes part in the Mineral Area College Cardinal Classic in Park Hills, Mo.

VU will open the weekend tournament against Hutchinson Community College Friday, Oct. 11 at 5 p.m. eastern, before taking on host Mineral Area College at 7 p.m. eastern.

The Trailblazers will close out the weekend slate with a pair of matches against NJCAA Top 20 ranked teams, first clashing against No. 19-ranked Indian Hills Community College at 2 p.m. eastern and later taking on No. 14-ranked Missouri State University-West Plains at 4 p.m. eastern.

"I like to think that we are still learning," Sien said. "At this level, having a new team every year, that's one thing that we always mention. Whether we are doing well or not, we still have learn, learn about each other and learn about the game. Over these last two weeks, I hope that we can learn that to be able to succeed, we have to be at a certain level, be able to sustain that level and to be ready for any team that we go up against. All of our teams and all of our sports here always get the very best out of everybody."

"I think we got caught up in thinking that teams were just going to give us a win and it's really the opposite," Sien added. "Everybody is always going to want to make a name for themselves by beating us. It's just a state of mind that we have to be in. In last night's match against Wallace State, all of our stats looked really good. In several categories we had more than Wallace State. So the stats looked pretty good but the most important stat is what it says in that final score. But overall, the effort out there today and putting last night behind us and not allowing either of these teams to really get to us was really good to see."

Other results from Saturday at the Showdown on the Wabash include Calhoun C.C. winning over Wabash Valley 20-25, 19-25, 25-9, 27-25, 15-10. Wallace State C.C. winning over Wabash Valley 25-22, 25-14, 25-21. Wallace State C.C. winning over Edison State C.C. 25-20, 25-19, 25-8. Edison State C.C. winning over St. Louis C.C. 25-21, 25-13, 25-22.

BOX SCORE

GAME ONE

St Louis C.C. – 19   13   18    x   x

VUVB (18-8, 8-2) – 25   25   25   x   x

VINCENNES STATS

Grace Flexter – 6 digs

Paulina Fister – 4.5 points, 1 ace, 3 kills, 1 block assist, 9 digs, 1 set assist

Rylee Edwards – 3 digs, 5 set assists

Dylan DeCoursey – 3 set assists

Laura Tavares – 9.5 points, 9 kills, 1 block assist, 3 digs

Isadora Dias – 5.5 points, 4 kills, 1 solo block, 1 block assist, 1 dig

Allison Czyzewski – 1 point, 2 block assists, 1 set assist

Ashley Earp – 4 digs

Martyna Sadowska – 1.5 points, 1 kill, 1 block assist, 1 set assist

Elisa Dalla Pozza – 10 points, 1 ace, 8 kills, 2 block assists, 3 digs

Libby Mehringer – 5 points, 4 aces, 1 kill, 4 digs, 14 set assists

GAME TWO

Calhoun – 11    18   14   x   x

VUVB (19-8, 8-2) – 25   25   25   x   x

VINCENNES STATS

Grace Flexter – 8 digs, 4 set assists

Paulina Fister – 5 points, 3 aces, 2 kills, 5 digs, 2 set assists

Rylee Edwards – 8 digs, 9 set assists

Julianna Rettig – 3 digs

Laura Tavares – 7.5 points, 7 kills, 1 block assist, 1 dig

Isadora Dias – 2.5 points, 2 kills, 1 block assist, 5 digs, 1 set assist

Allison Czyzewski – 2.5 points, 2 kills, 1 block assist, 1 dig

Martyna Sadowska – 4.5 points, 3 kills, 1 solo block, 1 block assist, 1 dig

Elisa Dalla Pozza – 14.5 points, 2 aces, 10 kills, 1 solo block, 3 block assists, 1 dig, 2 set assists

Libby Mehringer – 4 points, 4 aces, 9 digs, 18 set assists