Trailblazers split the day in Region 24 tri-match

VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University volleyball team concluded their busy weekend slate of Region 24 matches Saturday afternoon, hosting Lake Land College from Mattoon, Ill. and Southeastern Illinois College from Harrisburg, Ill. for a Region 24 tri-match inside the P.E. Complex.

The Trailblazers opened the day against Lake Land College and came out on the wrong end of a 22-25, 23-25, 24-26 final.

VU then turned around and played their third Region 24 match in under 24 hours against Southeastern Illinois College, taking the three set sweep 25-15, 25-18, 25-22 over the Falcons.

Vincennes began the day with a match against Lake Land College in a battle of the top two teams currently in the Region 24 standings.

This match proved to be very evenly fought as the two teams traded scoring runs in the opening set before the Lakers closed out set one 25-22 to open a 1-0 match lead.

Set two got off to a better start for the Trailblazers, using a 5-0 run to help build an early lead, which VU would grow to 21-14.

Lake Land would then come back firing, using seven straight points to climb all the way back and regain the lead before closing out set two, going the distance, 25-23 and taking a 2-0 match lead.

Set three was another back-and-forth battle with the two teams trading side outs throughout most of the set before VU looked to get a late advantage with a 22-18 lead.

Lake Land would chip away at this deficit, using a pair of 3-0 scoring runs to erase the margin and coming away with the 26-24 set three victory, closing out the match in three sets.

"I think Lake Land made all of the big plays," VUVB Head Coach Gary Sien said. "Especially in the second and third sets where we had leads. At this point, this late in the season, it's about consistency, chemistry, teamwork and we really lacked that today against Lake Land."

"Obviously, Lake Land came to play," Sien added. "I thought there was some pretty good effort on our side overall but it was individual play versus team play. All three sets were pretty close, just Lake Land got all the big plays. They got all of the points in the important junctures in the match. Our execution just wasn't consistent enough from beginning to end."

The VU offense was led by sophomore Isadora Dias (Rio Grande de Norte, Brazil) who came away with another double-double with 12 kills, 10 digs, one block and one set assist.

Sophomores Laura Tavares (Merida, Venezuela) and Elisa Dalla Pozza (Vincenza, Italy) also came through in the match with seven kills each.

Tavares would add three blocks and three digs to her totals, while Pozza added a team-high five blocks and one dig.

Freshman Martyna Sadowska (Pila, Poland) rounded out the VU offensive numbers with five kills and one block in the game.

The Trailblazer offense was run by sophomore setter Libby Mehringer (Jasper, Ind.) who finished with 18 set assists, five kills, three digs and one ace.

Freshman setter Rylee Edwards shared time on the floor with Mehringer to finish the match with 16 set assists, three digs and a pair of aces.

The VU back row defense was again led by sophomore libero Grace Flexter (Oblong, Ill.) who ended the match with eight digs and two set assists.

Freshman Paulina Fister (Tuszyn, Poland) led the Blazers in the match with13 digs, along with one block, while sophomore Allison Czyzewski rounded out the VU box score with a pair of blocks.

The Trailblazers looked to bounce back in the final match of the day and close out the weekend strong in their first meeting with Southeastern Illinois College of the year.

VU was able to jump out front early, taking advantage of several consecutive point runs to build a 21-12 lead and using a 4-0 scoring run to close out set one 25-15 to grab the early 1-0 match lead.

Vincennes would ride this momentum into another quick start in set two, opening up a 17-8 lead midway through the set.

Southeastern Illinois would continue to battle down the stretch but were unable to eat into the Trailblazer lead as VU grabbed set two 25-18, giving VU a 2-0 lead going into the third set.

Southeastern Illinois would not go down quietly though, grabbing the early momentum in set three with a 5-1 lead before VU answered back to even the score at 6-6.

VU would break away with a 4-0 run to take an 18-14 lead before the Falcons again answered back late in the set with a 4-0 run of their own.

Vincennes was able to get back on track and close out the third set 25-22 and complete the sweep over the Falcons.

"It's always tough to play a team for the first time," Sien said. "I guess the good thing is that we got the chance to play again right away and work on some of that teamwork and chemistry that I talked about from the first match. Overall, I thought we did pretty well there. The first and second sets I thought we had some good team play. I just thought we approached that game better as a team."

"The third set was a little touch and go," Sien added. "We did a lot of substituting so it's kind of hard to gel when you've got so many people in and out. It's the first time all year that we used all 15 of our substitutions. It was just good for us to get back out there and I think overall we took that pretty well."

The Vincennes offense was again led by sophomore Isadora Dias who just missed out on a second double-double on the day, recording eight kills, seven digs, one set assist and one ace.

Martyna Sadowska added seven kills and two blocks to her stat line, while Paulina Fister added five kills and a team-high 10 digs.

Elisa Dalla Pozza and Allison Czyzewski controlled the middle position with Pozza ending the day with four kills, three blocks and two digs, while Czyzewski recorded two kills, three blocks and one dig.

Libby Mehringer ran the Trailblazer offense from the setter position, finishing with a team-high 13 set assists, to go along with six kills, three digs and a pair of blocks.

Sophomore setter Dylan DeCoursey (Montgomery, Ind.) ended her day with 12 set assists, four digs and two aces, while freshman Rylee Edwards chipped in with six set assists and two digs.

Grace Flexter controlled the back row defense with eight digs and three set assists, while freshman Ashley Earp (Mattoon, Ill.) added five digs and freshman Julianna Rettig (Antioch, Ill.) added two digs to her totals.

The Trailblazers now head into the final week of the regular season, with two of their final three matches on the road, beginning Tuesday, Oct. 22 when VU heads to Harrisburg, Ill. for another showdown against Southeastern Illinois College at 7:30 p.m. eastern.

Vincennes will then hit the road again Friday, Oct. 25 when VU heads to Robinson, Ill. to take on Lincoln Trail College at 7 p.m. eastern before closing out the 2024 regular season at home Saturday, Oct. 26 against Kaskaskia College on Sophomore Recognition Day at 12 p.m. eastern.

Other match results on the day include Lake Land College winning over Southeastern Illinois College 25-16, 25-19, 25-14.

"It's another restart to our year," Sien said. "We still have a chance at the No. 1 seed but we have to run the table and it puts us in a lot more difficult circumstances as far as the Region tournament. But we have too much talent and too much experience to not get this done. We just have to be able to find that chemistry and that teamwork every day that we are out here playing."

"Right now, it has nothing to do with volleyball," Sien added. "Now it's about our mental state and our mindset. That has to be right there in those key moments and in these keys games, like against Lake Land."

BOX SCORE

GAME ONE

Lake Land – 25   25   26   x   x

VUVB (23-12, 11-3) – 22   23   24   x   x

VINCENNES STATS

Grace Flexter – 8 digs, 2 set assists

Paulina Fister – 0.5 points, 1 block assist, 13 digs

Rylee Edwards – 2 points, 2 aces, 3 digs, 16 set assists

Laura Tavares – 8.5 points, 7 kills, 3 block assists, 3 digs

Isadora Dias – 12.5 points, 12 kills, 1 block assist, 10 digs, 1 set assist

Allison Czyzewski – 1 point, 2 block assists

Martyna Sadowska – 6 points, 5 kills, 1 solo block

Elisa Dalla Pozza – 10 points, 7 kills, 1 solo block, 4 block assists, 1 dig

Libby Mehringer – 6 points, 1 ace, 5 kills, 3 digs, 18 set assists

GAME TWO

Southeastern Illinois – 15   18   22   x   x

VUVB (24-12, 12-3) – 25   25   25   x   x

VINCENNES STATS

Grace Flexter – 8 digs, 3 set assists

Paulina Fister – 5 points, 5 kills, 10 digs

Rylee Edwards – 2 digs, 6 set assists

Dylan DeCoursey – 2 points, 2 aces, 4 digs, 12 set assists

Julianna Rettig – 2 digs

Isadora Dias – 9 points, 1 ace, 8 kills, 7 digs, 1 set assist

Allison Czyzewski – 3.5 points, 2 kills, 3 block assists, 1 dig

Ashley Earp – 5 digs

Martyna Sadowska – 8 points, 7 kills, 2 block assists

Elisa Dalla Pozza – 6.5 points, 4 kills, 2 solo blocks, 1 block assist, 2 digs

Libby Mehringer – 7 points, 6 kills, 2 block assists, 3 digs, 13 set assists