MATTOON, Ill. – The Vincennes University volleyball team faced a very tough test Tuesday night when they headed to Mattoon to take on a Lake Land College team who entered the night with an unbeaten 10-0 record.
The Blazers were able to keep their composure on the road and come away with the win 25-17, 23-25, 25-22, 25-17, extending VU’s Region 24 winning streak to 44 matches.
Vincennes got off to an excellent start in the opening set, quickly building an 8-4 lead before extending the advantage to 22-13.
Lake Land tried to battle back with a 4-1 scoring run, but were unable to overcome the deficit as VU took set one of the night 25-17 to take the early 1-0 match lead.
The Trailblazers would continue to ride this early start in the second set, scoring eight of the first nine points and building a seemingly commanding 14-4 lead.
VU’s double digit lead would hold at 21-11 before the home crowd began to rally around the Lakers and helped push Lake Land on a massive 14-2 scoring run to close out set two and even the match at 1-1 with a 25-23 set win for the Lakers.
Looking to bounce back in a big third set, VU sophomore Libby Mehringer (Jasper, Ind.) set the tone early in set three with back-to-back aces to open the set.
The third set was another back-and-forth battle with the two teams trading scoring runs and the Blazers holding on to a narrow 22-21 advantage before closing out the third set on a 3-1 scoring run to win 25-22 and gain a 2-1 match lead.
Vincennes again got off to a great start in set four, building a 15-7 advantage and later gaining their largest lead of the night at 21-9.
Once again, however, Lake Land would not go away easily, scoring five straight points to swing the momentum back to the home bench, but this would be as close as the Lakers would get as VU closed out set four 25-17 to take the match over Lake Land.
“Another match, another different line up,” VUVB Head Coach Gary Sien said. “This time we had to integrate Elisa back in as she missed all of last week. We knew that would take some time and work, which is a tough set of circumstances with going against an unbeaten team at their place.”
“We did a great job of rebounding from that loss in set two,” Sien added. “We were off all night in our offensive execution and in our blocking. It made it hard at times to score without those two things.”
The VU offense was once again led by the sophomore trio of Laura Tavares (Merida, Venezuela), Isadora Dias (Rio Grande de Norte, Brazil) and Elisa Dalla Pozza (Vincenza, Italy).
Tavares and Dias led the way with 12 kills each, with Dias adding seven digs, one block, one set assist and an ace, while Tavares finished her night with three blocks and two digs.
Dalla Pozza picked up right where she left off, returning to the VU lineup with 11 kills, a team-high four blocks and one dig.
Freshman Martyna Sadowska (Pila, Poland) finished with seven kills and one set assist, while fellow freshman Paulina Fister (Tuszyn, Poland had four kills and one block to go along with a new career-high 20 digs.
Sophomore Allison Czyzewski (Louisville, Ill.) rounds out the VU offense with a pair of kills and two blocks on the night.
Sophomore Libby Mehringer continues to run a very good Trailblazer offense, ending with a team-high 24 set assists, six digs, three aces and one kill.
Sophomore Dylan DeCoursey (Montgomery, Ind.) shared time at the setter position, finishing with 15 set assists and three digs.
Sophomore libero Grace Flexter (Oblong, Ill.) had another big night controlling the VU back row defense with a team-high 21 digs, seven set assists and one ace.
Freshman Brooklyn Summers (Loogootee, Ind.) got into the game on the defensive end, finishing her night with a pair of digs.
“Elisa had a fantastic match with good numbers in her attacks and blocks,” Sien said. “She flipped around and blocked some on the right side as well. She also served tough and picked up a few digs on defense.”
“I thought Grace picked up a lot of Lake Land’s attacks and serve received very well,” Sien added. “She also served tough to take Lake Land out of their offense. She just had a good all-around game for us.”
“Credit the team for persevering and getting the win when not playing at our very best,” Sien said. “We stuck it out and made all the big plays at the end.”
The Trailblazers will hit the road again this weekend when VU heads to Hanceville, Ala. Friday, Sept. 20 and Saturday, Sept. 21 for the Wallace State C.C. Fall Bash.
Vincennes will open the weekend tournament Friday against D-II No. 12-ranked Enterprise State C.C. from Enterprise, Ala. at 6 p.m. eastern, before turning around to take on Snead State Community College from Boaz, Ala. at 8 p.m. eastern.
VU will close out the weekend slate Saturday, Sept. 21 against host Wallace State C.C. at 10 a.m. eastern before ending the weekend against Lawson State C.C. from Birmingham, Ala. at 2 p.m. eastern.
“We need to play now that we have the line up back,” Sien said. “It is like resetting the season and starting all over again. I thought we did a great job tonight of staying together. Quitting would have been the easy thing to do after that disappointing second set. I felt we did the opposite and pulled together.”
BOX SCORE
VUVB (10-4, 6-0) – 25 23 25 25 x
Lake Land – 17 25 22 17 x
VINCENNES STATS
Grace Flexter – 1 point, 1 ace, 21 digs, 7 set assists
Paulina Fister – 5 points, 4 kills, 1 solo block, 20 digs
Dylan DeCoursey – 3 digs, 15 set assists
Brooklyn Summers – 2 digs
Laura Tavares – 13.5 points, 12 kills, 3 block assists, 2 digs
Isadora Dias – 13.5 points, 1 ace, 12 kills, 1 block assist, 7 digs, 1 set assist
Allison Czyzewski – 3 points, 2 kills, 2 block assists
Martyna Sadowska – 7 points, 7 kills, 1 set assist
Elisa Dalla Pozza – 14 points, 11 kills, 2 solo blocks, 2 block assists, 1 dig
Libby Mehringer – 4 points, 3 aces, 1 kill, 6 digs, 24 set assists
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The Vincennes University volleyball team improved to 10-4 on the season, with a 6-0 record in Region 24 play.
