Blazers drop tough match to Mineral Area to begin Blazer Classic

VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University volleyball team began their annual Blazer Classic weekend Friday night at the P.E. Complex and fell in three sets to Mineral Area College out of Park Hills, Mo. 14-25, 22-25, 17-25.

Vincennes got off to a good start, holding close to Mineral Area in the first set, before the Cardinals used a 9-1 scoring run to open a 20-8 lead.

The Trailblazers attempted to rally back but were unable to completely close the margin as Mineral Area took set one 25-14.

Set two began as a back-and-forth battle, with VU holding an 11-9 advantage before Mineral Area answered with a 5-0 scoring run to take the lead.

Once the Cardinals grabbed the lead it was tough for the Blazers to swing the momentum back as Mineral Area came away with the set two victory 25-22.

Vincennes opened the third set looking to force a fourth with the Blazers jumping out to a quick 5-2 lead.

Mineral Area again rallied back with a trio of 4-0 scoring runs, giving the Cardinals a 15-8 lead.

VU looked to close the margin late in the set but were only able to cut the lead to five before the Cardinals closed out the match on a 3-0 scoring run to take set three and the match 25-17.

“In the first set, our passing just got off,” VU Assistant Coach Mike Misner said. “That’s one of the main things that we stress as coaches, you’ve got to serve and pass and tonight we didn’t pass very well, which gave Mineral Area more opportunities. At the beginning of the game, we battled right off the bat with them, but we were passing the ball well and I thought we were doing good. Once we started passing bad, we had a lot of high balls at the pin and that allowed Mineral Area to set their block up.”

“We passed the ball much better in the second set,” Misner added. “We had a stretch where we had a couple of bad serve receives. We had a lead for a lot of that set, I don’t want to say that we had control of the set, but we were up. Right at the end of the set we started tipping the ball instead of swinging. Usually in those close sets the most aggressive team is going to win and it ended with Mineral Area swinging and we were tipping.”

The Trailblazers were led offensively by another double-double performance out of freshman Paige Parlanti (Las Vegas, Nev.). The VU hitter recorded a team-high 14 kills and 13 digs, while also adding an ace and block on the night.

Freshman Audrey Buis (Franklin, Ind.) ended her night with seven kills and seven digs.

Freshman Alexis Chrappa (Effingham, Ill.) and sophomore Malgorzata Banasiak (Gdynia, Poland) each finished with four kills, with Chrappa adding four digs and Banasiak finishing with a block assist and one dig.

Freshman Tuana Turhan (Ankara, Turkey) and sophomore Hannah Graber (Montgomery, Ind.) rounded out the VU offense with Turhan finishing with a pair of kills and two blocks and Graber recording one kill, six digs and 19 set assists.

Freshman setter Maecy Johnson (Chrisman, Ill.) came through with eight set assists on the night, while adding a pair of digs and an ace.

Sophomore setter Josephine Mulligan (Saint John, Ind.) returned to the floor for the first time in nearly two weeks in the third set to record three set assists and two digs.

Freshman libero Morgan Netcott (Montague, Mich.) also grabbed a set assist, while leading the Blazers with 24 digs on the night.

Sophomore Lara Gomes de Castro (Sao Paulo, Brazil) and freshman Kennedy Sowell (Effingham, Ill.) closed out the VU box score with Gomes de Castro ending with five digs and Sowell getting one.

The Trailblazers will look to close out the weekend on a high note when VU returns to the P.E. Complex floor Saturday, Sept. 10 to close out the Blazer Classic against Ancilla College. This match is set to begin at 10 a.m. eastern.

“We just want to go out there tomorrow and pass better for sure,” Misner said. “Doing that will allow us to get better swings. Tonight, we probably had close to 30 hitting errors and we’re not going to beat many teams doing that. We should hit much better tomorrow. I expect us to. Ancilla has a couple of pretty good athletes. I feel good about tomorrow, but we’ve got to take care of business and we’ve got to pass and serve. If we can pass and serve, I really like our chances.”