VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University volleyball team opened another tough weekend of competition with the first day of the 2024 Showdown on the Wabash tournament at VU.
The Blazers began the weekend slate with a split of their Friday matches, winning a Region 24 clash over Southwestern Illinois College 25-22, 21-25, 25-20, 25-15 and falling to Wallace State C.C. 23-25, 18-25, 25-19, 25-8, 14-16.
Vincennes began the day with a Region 24 contest against Southwestern Illinois College from Belleville.
The Blazers broke away in the opening set to take an early 9-6 lead before the Blue Storm battled back to regain the lead at 17-16.
Vincennes would answer back late in the first set and close the set by outscoring SWIC 7-2 to take set one 25-22.
Set two was another back-and-forth battle, with neither team able to get a solid lead until the Blue Storm used four unanswered points to close out the set and even the match with a 25-21 victory.
Vincennes looked determined to take the pivotal third set but again had an early lead erased.
VU would again look to gain firm control of the match at 22-16 before the Blue Storm rallied back with four straight points.
This would be as close as SWIC would get however as Vincennes picked up three straight points to close out the third set 25-20 and take a 2-1 match lead.
Wanting to avoid a fifth set, Vincennes again got off to a quick start in set four, building an early 7-2 lead, which SWIC again erased to tie the set at 7-7.
Vincennes would get the lead back with three straight points and continue to build on this lead with a 5-0 run later in the set as VU pulled away late to take set four and the match 25-15.
“SWIC was the hottest team in the Region coming into today,” VUVB Head Coach Gary Sien said. “They were on a 10 game winning streak before today and a couple of those wins were against some of the other top teams in the Region. We knew we were going to have a tough game, plus they had two players back that didn’t play the first time we played them.”
“Having those two back for them will add fire power and blocking to any team,” Sien added. “We had a hard time stopping No. 13 early in the match. We had to really adjust our blocking, getting in front of her hitting arm and were able to get more touches from that which helped us get some more digs that we didn’t get early in the match.”
“There were a couple of SWIC hitters that we were able to help control with our blocking and defense, which was the difference in the match,” Sien said. “Looking at our kill numbers, we were able to transition pretty well too.”
The VU offense was again led by the sophomore tandem of Laura Tavares (Merida, Venezuela) and Isadora Dias (Rio Grande de Norte, Brazil), who each finished with 14 kills.
Tavares would add a pair of blocks, one dig and one set assist and Dias would also record three blocks and one dig.
Sophomore Elisa Dalla Pozza (Vincenza, Italy) also had a big game, finishing with 11 kills, two blocks, two digs and one ace.
Freshman Martyna Sadowska (Pila, Poland) was the fourth VU hitter to reach double-digit kills, coming away with 10 kills, three blocks and a pair of set assists.
Freshman Paulina Fister (Tuszyn, Poland) had a good all-around game with four kills, 12 digs, two blocks and two set assists, while sophomore Allison Czyzewski (Louisville, Ill.) came away with a monster game at the net with two kills, a team-high seven blocks and one set assist.
The VU offense was run by sophomore setter Libby Mehringer (Jasper, Ind.) who finished with a team-high 26 set assists, two digs, one kill and one ace.
Freshman setter Rylee Edwards (Fairfield, Ill.) also helped spread the ball around, picking up a double-double with 21 set assists, 11 digs and two aces.
Sophomore libero Grace Flexter (Oblong, Ill.) and freshman Julianna Rettig (Antioch, Ill.) helped control the back row defense for the Trailblazers, with Flexter finishing the match with 13 digs, one set assist and one ace, while Rettig picked up a team-high 16 digs and one ace.
The Trailblazers then looked to close out the first day strong with another tough test, this time against Wallace State Community College.
The Lions came out of the gates strong in set one, building an early 8-3 lead and later held a 13-7 advantage over the Blazers.
The Wallace State lead would grow to eight before Vincennes began to chip away with a 7-2 scoring run to cut the deficit to 23-21.
Facing set point, Vincennes would continue to battle, getting within a single point of the Lion lead before Wallace State closed out the opening set 25-23 to gain the early 1-0 match lead.
Set two was more of the same from Wallace State, using an early 6-0 run to build a quick lead, which would grow to 18-11 before the Blazers rallied off three straight points.
This time however the Lions were determined to put the set away as the two teams traded points with Wallace State grabbing set two 25-18 to take a 2-0 match lead.
Looking to avoid the sweep, the Trailblazers showed some determination of their own in set three, gaining a lead midway through the set and later using a 7-1 scoring run to build a 24-15 advantage.
Wallace State found themselves trying to climb back and were able to put four straight points together but were unable to overcome the deficit as VU took set three 25-19, with Wallace State now leading the match 2-1.
VU used this late momentum from set three into set four, riding a massive 9-0 scoring run by Libby Mehringer to grab the early advantage.
