Trailblazers continue to roll, close out first week with tri-match sweep

VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University Trailblazer volleyball team continued their hot start to the 2023 season Saturday afternoon, hosting a tri-match with Region 24 opponent Lake Land College and Ancilla College.

The Blazers came away with the daily sweep, defeating Lake Land 25-19, 27-25, 25-13, before closing out the day by defeating Ancilla College 25-14, 25-10, 25-12.

The Trailblazers began the day with their third straight Region 24 matchup to begin the 2023 season, hosting Lake Land College in the opening match of Saturday's tri-match.

VU got off to a hot start against the Lakers, taking an early 8-3 lead in the first set. Lake Land would respond back however to take the lead at 13-12.

Vincennes would again shift the momentum by going on a 7-0 scoring run to take a 19-13 lead.

The Lakers would again attempt a comeback but were unable to erase the deficit at VU took set one over Lake Land 25-19.

Lake Land was the first team to strike in set two, quickly building a 7-2 lead, before later growing their lead to 19-13.

The Trailblazers looked to rally late on their home floor, battling all the way back to even the game at 23-23 and later forcing overtime. VU closed out the second set by scoring three unanswered to take set two 27-25 and take a 2-0 match lead.

VU hoped to continue this momentum into the third set. The set began as a back-and-forth battle before VU broke the tie with a 6-0 scoring run to take a 15-10 lead.

The Trailblazers would continue to push and closed out the set by outscoring the Lakers 9-1, taking set three 25-13 and completing the Region 24 sweep.

This win increases the Trailblazers winning streak against Region 24 opponents to 27 matches.

"We really served extremely well," VUVB Head Coach Gary Sien said. "We were really hitting our targets and that really made their offense pretty predictable. They weren't able to set the middle as much, which with our blocking, especially outside at the pins, it really plays into our hand when we are able to serve so strongly."

"But there were still times when I thought we didn't quite finish our blocks," Sien added. "We would get touches at the net, but we weren't always able to finish it and put the ball on their side of the court. It's a little different than when we played Saint Mary of the Woods or Kentucky Wesleyan in the preseason, because they really hit the ball. It was almost like when we are at practice. We get some good blocks in practice because we have some really next-level hitters. I think sometimes when we don't see that harder swing our timing might be a little bit off blocking."

The Trailblazers were led offensively by another double-double by sophomore Paige Parlanti (Las Vegas, Nev.) who finished with 17 kills, 13 digs and two blocks.

Freshman Laura Tavares (Merida, Venezuela) also reached double-digit kills, ending the first match with 10 kills, two blocks, one dig and one set assist.

Sophomore Audrey Buis (Franklin, Ind.) and freshman Isadora Dias (Rio Grande de Norte, Brazil) also hit tough, with Buis finishing with seven kills, 14 digs, three blocks and one ace, while Dias ended with five kills and two solo blocks.

Freshman Allison Czyzewski (Louisville, Ill.) and sophomore Kennedy Sowell (Effingham, Ill.) rounded out the VU offensive attack, each recording a pair of kills, with Czyzewski leading VU with five blocks and Sowell adding three digs and one block to her totals.

Sophomore Maecy Johnson (Chrisman, Ill.) continues to run the Trailblazer offense efficiently, ending with a team-high 25 set assists, to go along with one dig and one ace.

Freshman Libby Mehringer (Jasper, Ind.) also came through with 10 set assists in the match, while also adding three digs and a team-high two aces.

Sophomore libero Morgan Netcott (Montague, Mich.) patrolled the back row to the tune of a team-high 19 digs and one set assist.

Freshman Grace Flexter (Oblong, Ill.) also saw some time on the court against Lake Land, recording one dig and one set assist.

Vincennes looked to close out the first week of the season strong, facing Ancilla College in the final match of the day at the Physical Education Complex.

Set one began as a back-and-forth battle before VU really took control of the game behind a very impressive 11-0 scoring run served up by Audrey Buis.

The Chargers were unable to rebound from this lengthy scoring run as VU took set one over Ancilla College 25-14.

Vincennes then continued to ride this momentum in the second set, with Maecy Johnson serving tough to open the set on a 14-0 scoring run for the Blazers.

Ancilla would again look to answer back but were unable to put a big scoring run together as VU claimed set two 25-10 and took a 2-0 lead in the match.

VU again came firing out of the gates in set three, using an 8-0 scoring run to take an early 10-2 advantage before Ancilla battled back to cut the deficit to three at 14-11.

The Blazers would then go on to outscore the Chargers 11-1 as the Trailblazers took set three 25-12 and completed the three-set sweep over Ancilla.

"We had some issues in the second set against Lake Land because of our serve receive," Sien said. "Looking at how we played against Ancilla, we didn't really allow them to get on any kind of a run, so that was nice to really take control of the match. The other side of that was just continuing to serve strong. We had a little different philosophy in both matches about serving. We had a bunch of aces against Ancilla, but we weren't really looking to serve aces against Lake Land. We were more focused on controlling their passer and controlling their offense."

"I think the whole day our serving game was pretty good," Sien added.

Vincennes was again led Paige Parlanti offensively, finishing her day with 16 kills, giving her a very impressive 33 kills on the day, while also adding three digs, three aces and two solo blocks.

Laura Tavares added eight kills and two blocks to her day, while Audrey Buis finished with a very strong six kills, five digs, a team-high five aces, one block and one set assist.

Isadora Dias and Kennedy Sowell each finished with three kills, with Sowell also finishing off a solo block on the day.

Allison Czyzewski came through again at the net, with two kills, a team-high three blocks and one dig, while freshman Dylan DeCoursey (Montgomery, Ind.) rounded out the VU offense with one kill, three digs and three set assists.

Maecy Johnson again ran the VU offense, recording 12 set assists and five digs in the match.

Libby Mehringer would add five set assists, while Morgan Netcott added three set assists and a team-high seven digs and Grace Flexter added two set assists and four digs.

The Trailblazers will hit the road to begin next week when VU heads to Hillsboro, Mo. to face-off against Jefferson College Tuesday, Aug. 29. That match is set to begin at 6 p.m. eastern.

VU will then close out the week by traveling to Perrysburg, Ohio to take part in the Owens Community College Tournament Friday, Sept. 1 and Saturday, Sept. 2.

"One thing that we've talked about all week, because in really three of our matches this week there were points when we just let the other team dictate our serve receive," Sien said. "We usually do that well, serving tough, but when it happens to us, we have to make sure we only give them one or two and don't give up these runs where they score three, four or more. Lake Land served us really tough today, give them credit."

"More often than not, teams that don't really matchup with us well on the front row, the damage they can do is to really serve us tough," Sien added. "No matter how many good hitters we have, when they are taking these sets from the middle of the court, it's really hard to put them away. That's the part that we really have to sure up."

"We'll be tested this coming week," Sien said. "It's going to be a very difficult match Tuesday at Jefferson. They hosted a big tournament this past weekend and faced a couple of nationally ranked teams, so regardless of how they did against them, they are used to playing at a pretty high level. It's going to be tough for us, especially with traveling around four hours to get there."

"Then we go to Owens, which is always a good tournament," Sien added. "They have five courts, around 25 to 30 teams there, a little bit more noise from the other courts, so it's more of like a club-type tournament. But it's good for us to experience that. The nice thing for us is that all four of our matches are on one of their main courts, which is wood. So, I can't complain."

"It will be good competition out there," Sien said. "We are facing four teams from four different states and we are facing the defending Division II National Champions in Richard Bland in our first match out there, so we will be tested right away against them. Then there will be a couple more tough matches next weekend."

BOX SCORE

GAME ONE

Lake Land – 19   25   13  x  x

VUVB (3-0, 3-0) – 25   27   25  x  x

INDIVIDUAL STATS

Grace Flexter – 1 dig, 1 set assist

Audrey Buis – 10 points, 1 ace, 7 kills, 1 solo block, 2 block assists, 14 digs

Morgan Netcott – 19 digs, 1 set assist

Paige Parlanti – 18.5 points, 17 kills, 1 solo block, 1 block assist, 13 digs

Isadora Dias – 7 points, 5 kills, 2 block assists

Allison Czyzewski – 5.5 points, 2 kills, 2 solo blocks, 3 block assists

Maecy Johnson – 1 point, 1 ace, 1 dig, 25 set assists

Kennedy Sowell – 2.5 points, 2 kills, 1 block assists, 3 digs

Laura Tavares – 11.5 points, 10 kills, 1 solo block, 1block assist, 1 dig, 1 set assist

Libby Mehringer – 2 points, 2 aces, 3 digs, 10 set assists

GAME TWO

Ancilla – 14   10   12   x   x

VUVB (4-0, 3-0) – 25   25   25   x   x

INDIVIDUAL STATS

Grace Flexter – 4 digs, 2 set assists

Audrey Buis – 11.5 points, 5 aces, 6 kills, 1 block assist, 5 digs, 1 set assist

Dylan DeCoursey – 1 point, 1 kill, 3 digs, 3 set assists

Morgan Netcott – 7 digs, 3 set assists

Paige Parlanti – 2 points, 3 aces, 16 kills, 2 solo blocks, 3 digs

Isadora Dias – 3 points, 3 kills

Allison Czyzewski – 4 points, 2 kills, 1 solo block, 2 block assists, 1 dig

Maecy Johnson – 5 digs, 12 set assists

Kennedy Sowell – 4 points, 3 kills, 1 solo block

Laura Tavares – 9.5 points, 8 kills, 1 solo block, 1 block assist

Libby Mehringer – 5 set assists