VINCENNES, Ind. – 2023 NJCAA All-American and two-time Region 24 Player of the Year Paige Parlanti (Las Vegas, Nev.) signed her letter of intent this week to continue her athletic and academic careers at NCAA Division I Bowling Green State University this fall in Bowling Green, Ohio.

“I chose Bowling Green State University for many reasons,” Parlanti said. “As soon as I stepped on campus, I saw the culture that the school has created and I just knew that I wanted to be a part of it. I know that I will become the very best version of myself by attending BGSU. I have received much help from all the coaches and I know that they will push me to become not only a better athlete, but a better person. I am very grateful to become a Falcon.”

Parlanti earned NJCAA Division I Second Team All-American honors this past season, becoming the first VU volleyball player to receive Division I All-American honors and the first VUVB player to be named an All-American since Audrey Curry in 2006.

Parlanti helped guide the Trailblazers to their best two-year run since moving to Division I in 2016 finishing out her VU career with a combined record of 61-16 and a 26-0 record against Region 24 opponents.

Parlanti led the Blazers to their best season overall since moving to Division I this past season as well, finishing the 2023 campaign with a 32-7 record, the most wins by a VUVB team at the D-I level and guided the Blazers to their third straight undefeated Region 24 Championship.

The Trailblazers advanced to the NJCAA Division I Midwest District A Championship game for the first time in program history and earned the highest National ranking in Division I program history, being ranked No. 18 this past season.

“I am very grateful for all of the awards that I have received while playing on the Vincennes volleyball team,” Parlanti added. “But the accomplishment that I am most proud of was when I received an All-American award. It proved that all the hard work and dedication paid off and I also learned that it is not impossible to achieve such things.”

“We’ve really spent much of the last two seasons discussing Paige’s abilities on the court, but when you look at all of the things that she brings off the court, it’s invaluable,” VUVB Head Coach Gary Sien said. “From her leadership and she was one who did not hesitate to contribute to lead as a freshman and stepped into a leadership role right from the beginning of her freshman year. She as a personality that is going to attract a lot of people. She’s very open, very talkative, very interested in each person on the team. So, when you have that genuine interest and love to work with people, people are just going to flock to you.”

“Those are things that are rare to have, especially with an athlete at that high level,” Sien added. “We are very grateful for her contribution to that end. Also, when it comes to intangibles off the court, her willingness to serve. The team has responsibilities every day, whether it’s setting up the net, laundry, being responsible for things on road trips, Paige was definitely willing to jump in any time we needed something to be done. She’s got a lot of initiative, she would just go and do things that she knew needed to be done without anyone saying it.”

“We didn’t have an assistant coach this past season but because of our sophomores Kennedy Sowell (Effingham, Ill.), Audrey Buis (Franklin, Ind.), Morgan Netcott (Montague, Mich.), Maecy Johnson (Chrisman, Ill.) and Paige, they really picked up a lot of things that seem small, but if they are not done, they can become big,” Sien said. “They really took over things that I needed to do so I was able to focus on other things. They definitely do, as a group, deserve a lot of credit for their contributions to the team this past season. Not only did we have a full season, but we traveled all over the country, thousands of miles on the road and all of the other things that we do. With all of that stuff going on, it would have been pretty difficult for me to have done all of that if they weren’t willing to help out.”

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – University of Southern Indiana Men’s Basketball snapped a five-game losing streaking by making 11-of-11 free throws down the stretch to defeat Tennessee Tech University, 74-71, Thursday evening in Cookeville, Tennessee. The Screaming Eagles rise to 6-16 overall and 3-6 in OVC play, while the Golden Eagles are 7-15 overall, 2-7 OVC.
 
The Screaming Eagles controlled much of the opening 20 minutes and were in front at the intermission, 35-32. USI led by as many as 12 points, 34-22, with 3:47 remaining in the half after a 16-8 run. Sophomore guard Ryan Hall (Kettering, Ohio) and junior guard Jeremiah Hernandez (Chicago, Illinois) led USI during the run with six points and five points, respectively.
 
TTU, however, cut into the USI advantage with an 8-1 run in the final minutes of the half to shrink the margin to three.
 
The second half saw the Screaming Eagles re-extend the lead to seven points twice (43-36 and 45-38) on back-to-back points in the paint by junior forward Nick Hittle (Indianapolis, Indiana). The Golden Eagles would rally and jumped back into the lead with a three-pointer to make the score 51-50 with 10:14 to play.
 
The next eight minutes would see the lead bounce back and forth until Hernandez connected on all three of a three-shot foul to give USI the lead for good, 66-65, with 2:26 to play. Hernandez would convert twice more to increase the lead to 68-65 with two more charity shots with 1:55 on the clock.
 
After TTU cut the USI advantage to one, 68-67, with two free throws of its own, Hall continued USI’s lead protection with two more free throws for a 70-67 lead with 27 ticks left. Sophomore guard Jack Campion (Milton, Wisconsin) and Hittle sealed the victory with four more free throw conversions in the final seconds to hold off the Golden Eagles, 74-71.
 
Overall, USI was 11-of-11 from the line down the stretch and 19-24 overall in the game. The Screaming Eagles also shot over 50 percent from the field for the game for the first time since November (51.1 percent, 23-45).
 
Individually, Hernandez led all USI scorers with 19 points before fouling out in the second half. The junior guard was five-of-11 from the field, including a three-point field goal, and eight-of-10 from the stripe.
 
USI sophomore guard/forward AJ Smith (Edwardsville, Illinois) followed with 13 points and grabbed a team-best 10 rebounds. The double-double was Smith’s team-high ninth of the season.
 
Hittle was third on the team in the scoring column with 12 points (one short of tying a career-high) on a blistering six-of-seven from field and two-of-two from the line. Junior forward Jack Mielke (Downers Grove, Illinois) was close behind with 11 points on a perfect four-of-four from the field and three-of-three from beyond the arc.
 
Campion rounded out the five USI double-figure scorers with 10 points. The sophomore guard also dished a career-high tying eight assists.