VINCENNES, Ind. – The list of accomplishments and honors continues to pour in for the reigning two-time Region 24 Player of the Year Paige Parlanti (Las Vegas, Nev.).

The Trailblazer sophomore earned 2023 NJCAA Division I Second Team All-American honors Tuesday afternoon.

“It is a huge honor to be named a Second Team All-American among so many talented athletes,” Parlanti said. “It was a goal of mine this year and I am excited to achieve this goal. It shows that my competitive nature, drive and passion for the sport has not gone unnoticed. I want to thank all of the coaches that have challenged me, pushed me past my limits, believed in me and taught me that every ball is playable. I know I still have more growth in me as a player and I look forward to playing at the next level.”

“Definitely getting a player and a person like Paige was a big signing for us,” VUVB Head Coach Gary Sien said. “For one, because of her location. We typically cannot get many students from outside of the Midwest, let alone somebody from way out west in Las Vegas. The odds of getting somebody from there, at first, we knew was going to be a challenge.”

“But one thing about Paige is that she puts her academics and her education first,” Sien added. “That’s how she found us because we have a very exceptional Fire Science program at VU. She contacted us very early in her senior year of high school. We looked at her film and knew she was a really nice player, but thought the odds were against us of signing her. But she was very serious about VU and came on a visit and once she got on campus, she basically decided to commit here not long after.”

“I knew at that point that we were signing someone that was not only going to be an exceptional player, but also an exceptional person,” Sien said. “I knew that if she reaches her potential, she is going to be an All-American before she leaves VU and she is definitely someone who realized their potential both in the classroom and on the volleyball court.”

“For her to have the year that she did a year ago, almost coming out of no where and putting up big numbers, she probably should have been recognized as an All-American last year as well,” Sien added. “But for her to come back and have an even better year this year, when the whole world knows about you. Every game and set you are targeted. It literally felt like she had three or four blockers following her wherever she went. I think that goes beyond having high-level skills, it goes back to her upbringing and how she was brought up, the coaching she had prior to coming here. There is definitely a large sense of inner toughness to bare what she did this year.”

“She also showed the type of leadership she has and the type of leader she is this year,” Sien said. “Whenever any coach in any sport says that the player loves the sport, it might be just words. But here is someone that I know, Paige Parlanti loves the sport of volleyball. You can always tell when she steps onto the court that she loves volleyball. I’ll take 12 athletes like that any day. She never takes any practice or games for granted. That’s the thing that I think separates her from someone else who might have the same level of skills. Her love of the game, intensity and focus, all of those things that you just can’t coach.”

“On the numbers side, for her to get 1,000 kills,” Sien added. “If that were easy everybody would be getting 1,000 kills in two years. That’s just not done too often at any level. As a coach that has seen many players and has been blessed to coach many good players both men and women, blessed with a lot of success, Paige foremost steps forward as one of the best players that I’ve ever had. Whether it’s men’s or women’s at any level that I’ve coached and that says a lot because I’ve also been blessed to coach a number of other All-Americans.”

“But hitting is also not all that Paige can do either, she also almost had 1,000 digs in her career,” Sien said. “She is really good in the back row as well. She really puts her all into playing the back row, diving and trying to get to every ball she can and she doesn’t really have to do that. That’s just part of her as a player. She plays defense from corner to corner as a middle back, she has had games where she will go flying into the benches to go after a ball. That part of the game impresses me more than someone hitting the ball 1,000 miles per hour because playing defense, in any sport at any level, it’s all heart. That part of her game really, for me, shows her passion and her heart that she plays with. When some athletes would have just taken it easy in the back row and saved their energy for the front row, there’s none of that with her.”

Parlanti is coming off of another very impressive season for the Trailblazers, where she led VU with 514 kills, 408 digs, 73 blocks and 46 aces.

Parlanti also finished second in the Nation this past season in kills per set at 4.36 and points per set at 5.1, while also finishing fourth in total points with 603.5 and fifth in the country in kills with 514.

Parlanti closed out her Trailblazer career with 1,049 kills, 946 digs, 141 blocks and 105 aces, becoming the first VU hitter in the 25-point rally scoring era (2008-present) to reach the 1,000 kill milestone.

Parlanti helped guide the Trailblazers to a 32-7 record this past season, the most wins in program history since moving to the NJCAA Division I level, VU’s third-straight undefeated Region 24 Championship and the reached the NJCAA Midwest District A Championship game for the first time since moving to the NJCAA Division I level.

Parlanti, along with her sophomore class, finished their two years at Vincennes with a combined record of 61-16, with a 26-0 record against Region 24 opponents and helped the Trailblazers reach their highest NJCAA Division I National ranking in program history, being ranked No. 18 this past season.

Parlanti recorded 21 double-doubles during the 2023 season, including setting season-highs with 28 kills and 33 digs at Jefferson College in August, which helped Parlanti earn NJCAA Division I Offensive Player of the Week honors.

Parlanti is the first VU Volleyball All-American since moving to the NJCAA Division I level in 2016 and fifth Volleyball All-American overall, joining Marianne Tobolski (1986), Jennifer Wirtz (2004), Kayla Holloway (2005) and Audrey Curry (2006).

“To be one of five volleyball players to receive All-American honors at Vincennes University is a huge accomplishment for me and exciting for the growth of the program,” Parlanti added. “I am honored to represent VU as one of those athletes and a role model for upcoming and new volleyball athletes. I am excited to be the first athlete in the VUVB Division I program history to receive this honor and I want future players to know anything is possible with some hard work and dedication.”

“I believe this honor will help the VUVB volleyball program grow,” Parlanti said. “I played with some amazing teammates this year that are very athletic and I know that they are capable of receiving this honor next year. With receiving this honor, my teammates know that it is possible. All they have to do is believe in themselves, push and challenge themselves and each other every time they step onto the court. I hope this award sets a new standard for future athletes at VU to set goals and strive for the best.”

“Of course it helps to have great team success, we went through a whole list of accomplishments this season but having Paige on this team really helped take us to the next level,” Sien said. “We are getting invitations from Top-10 teams to play, which we have never gotten before. We’ve even had a few that specifically said, ‘We want you’, not just some generic email that gets sent out to 100 schools. They specifically say, ‘We want Vincennes University to come to our tournament’ and we’ve also had other schools ask about our tournaments as well. You suddenly get noticed that way.”

“One of the emails just said, ‘We want a Top-20 team to come play at our tournament and that’s you, Vincennes University’,” Sien added. “I cannot think of a better team recognition out there than to have those invitations. We were getting a few before this past season, but now that the season’s over, we’re getting a lot more invitations. That really says a lot that the other schools that have had decades of success are seeing that Vincennes University is getting closer to them.”

“When you have both individuals and then you have such a good season, the NJCAA volleyball world and maybe the volleyball world period is going to know about you,” Sien said. “Recruiting for us has always been good. But right after the District tournament, I got around two dozen emails of athletes from 2024 all the way up to 2027 asking to be a part of our program and sending videos. Those are the rewards of having this type of success in your program, both as a team and of course, at the individual level.”

The Vincennes University Athletic Department would like to congratulate Paige Parlanti on a great season and another outstanding honor.

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Volleyball has announced the signing of two freshmen to the 2024 roster. The Screaming Eagles are losing four athletes from the 2023 season due to graduation.

“I am excited to welcome Kerigan and Layla to the USI family,” says USI Volleyball Head Coach, Jeffrey Aucoin. “They are extremely talented individuals who have proven to be successful leaders for their teams on the court and excel in the classroom. Even more exciting for our program, Kerigan and Layla are both fierce competitors that are genuinely excited about the vision of USI Volleyball and helping achieve our future championship goals.”
 
Kerigan Fehr | 5’4″ | Libero/Defensive Specialist | Fairbury, Illinois
The Prairie Central High School product comes to USI after posting a successful four-year career with the Hawks. Fehr brought home two All-Illini Prairie Conference honors and was on the AVCA All-American watch list for 2023. The News Gazette All-State honorable mention holds the PCHS record for most digs, kills, and aces and reached the 1,000-dig plateau. Fehr also played club at Illini Elite in Bloomington, Illinois where she was Illinois Prep Volleyball All-State honorable mention.

Layla Gonzales | 5’4″ | Libero/Defensive Specialist | Muncie, Indiana
Gonzales travels to Southern Indiana after a three-year stint at Burris Laboratory School in Muncie, Indiana. During her tenure as an Owl, Gonzales collected two All-Pioneer Academic Athletic Conference honors after leading her team to two conference championships and a 2023 IHSAA 2A State Championship. In three seasons, Gonzales has accumulated 840 digs and 3.16 digs per set average. She also is a member of the Munciana Club Volleyball team.

The Eagles completed a successful season last week by making their first Ohio Valley Conference Championship berth and earning their first tournament victory while going 15-16 overall and 10-8 in conference play.

VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University Lady Trailblazers hit the court Wednesday night for their first game after the Thanksgiving break and faced a tough challenge in No. 13-ranked Three Rivers College.

VU was led by freshman Destinee Hooks (Indianapolis, Ind.) who made her Vincennes debut Wednesday night after an injury kept her out of the first seven games of the season.

Hooks finished with 17 points, eight rebounds and four assists but the Lady Trailblazers ultimately fell to the Lady Raiders by the final score of 70-52.

The game got off to a very slow start for both teams offensively, with Three Rivers finally breaking through with a 12-2 scoring run to close out the first quarter and take a 12-4 lead after the first 10 minutes of play.

The Lady Raiders continued to roll into the second quarter and looked to potentially put the game away early with a 12-0 scoring run to start the second period and later take a 35-10 lead.

Vincennes would get some shots to fall from three-point range before half, outscoring Three Rivers 10-2 to cut the deficit to 37-20 at the break.

VU took their game to another level in the third quarter and looked to be making a big second half comeback, cutting the Three Rivers lead down to single digits at 44-35 and later using a 9-1 scoring run to cut the lead down to 50-46.

The Lady Raiders would get the final basket of the quarter and head into the fourth holding a 52-46 advantage over the Lady Blazers.

Three Rivers looked to take control back in the fourth, scoring the first six points of the quarter and using a 10-0 scoring run to grow the lead back to 18 at 68-50.

The Lady Raiders would hold the ball to run some clock in the final few minutes and take advantage of some timely offensive rebounds as the Lady Blazers just ran out of time and fell 70-52 to Three Rivers.

Vincennes was led offensively by Destinee Hooks who finished with a game-high 17 points, eight rebounds and four assists for the Lady Blazers.

Freshman Makyla Tucker (Indianapolis, Ind.) was the only other VU scorer in double-figures, coming off the bench Hooks, to finish with 10 points, including hitting a perfect two of two from three-point range.

Sophomore Maycee Lange (Vincennes, Ind.) finished her night with nine points and four rebounds, while freshman Taylor Guess (Indianapolis, Ind.) matched the nine points and four rebounds while also adding a pair of blocks on the game.

Sophomore Katrina Litte (Valmiera, Latvia) came away with five points to go along with a team-high five assists, two steals and three rebounds.

The Lady Trailblazers will look to bounce back this Saturday, Dec. 2 when VU hosts Moberly Area Community College into the Physical Education Complex. Tip-off time Saturday is set for 3 p.m. eastern.

This will be the third meeting this season between the Lady Blazers and the Lady Greyhounds, with Vincennes taking the first game of the season 86-80 at Moberly, before Moberly evened the score with an 84-65 win at Three Rivers College in Poplar Bluff, Mo.

Aces drop 90-78 decision

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Freshman Chuck Bailey III scored a career-high 27 points in Wednesday’s Missouri Valley Conference opener as the University of Evansville men’s basketball team dropped a 90-78 decision at JQH Arena.

Bailey recorded 22 of his 27 points in the second half while helping the Purple Aces stage a late comeback.  Ben Humrichous scored 14 points while Kenny Strawbridge Jr. finished the evening with nine.  Yacine Toumi led the way with 8 rebounds while Tanner Cuff had an excellent all-around performance with 8 assists, 7 points and 7 boards.

“Missouri State had a good game plan; they came right out and punched us in the mouth,” UE head coach David Ragland said.  “We responded the right way and never gave up tonight.  This league is just so physical and it was a good experience for our guys to get a taste of that.”

Cam Haffner opened the game with a 3-pointer, but Missouri State hit their first of seven first-half triples on the other end to tie the game.  UE took a 5-3 lead on an Antonio Thomas basket before going up 7-5 on a Kenny Strawbridge Jr. jumper at the 17:49 mark.

Missouri State responded with a 7-0 run to take a 12-7 edge before Ben Humrichous knocked down an outside shot to make it a one-possession game.  On the strength of five offensive rebounds in the opening five minutes, MSU pushed its lead to 19-12.  Evansville stepped up its defense, holding the Bears scoreless for a 4-minute stretch as they forced five missed shots and a turnover.  Chuck Bailey III connected on a triple while Joshua Hughes added his first basket to make it a 19-17 game at the midway point of the half.

After the Bears wrestled away a 27-21 advantage, Tanner Cuff took matters into his own hands.  Scoring five in a row, Cuff got his squad within one point with 6:33 remaining in the period.  MSU quickly responded, embarking on a 16-2 run to take their largest lead of 44-28 in the final minute.  Strawbridge hit a jumper in the final Aces’ possession to make it a 44-30 contest at the break.

In the opening moments of the second half, SMS pushed its lead to 18 points, but UE kept up the pressure.  Gage Bobe connected from long range while Bailey added a field goal to cut the deficit to 50-36 with 15:38 showing on the clock.  The Bears countered with an 11-2 rally to go up 61-38 inside of the 12-minute mark.  Evansville continued to show its fight as Bailey registered 22 of his 27 points in the final half to get the Aces back within 10 points.

Unfortunately, the comeback fell just short as UE fell by a final of 90-78. The defense for the Aces stepped up in the second half, forcing 10 turnovers as the worked to overcome the deficit.

UE returns home on Saturday to face Northern Iowa at 1 p.m.