VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University Trailblazer volleyball team extended their winning streak and their Region 24 winning streak Wednesday after defeating John A. Logan College in four sets 23-25, 25-14, 25-20, 25-18.
The Trailblazers opened the match at home on a high note, jumping out to an early 10-4 lead, before the Volunteers used a pair of 5-0 scoring runs to rally back to take the lead.
Vincennes tried to recover on their home floor but were unable to recapture the lead as John A. Logan took set one over the Blazers 25-23.
VU again would grab an early lead in the second set, building a 13-5 lead and growing into a 20-10 advantage.
John A. Logan looked to answer back late in the set but were unable to close the margin as VU took set two 25-14 and evened the match at one set each.
Looking to complete the momentum swing in a pivotal third set, the Trailblazers were the first to build a lead after a quick 3-0 scoring run gave the Blazers a 16-12 advantage on the scoreboard.
VU would continue to add pressure late in the third set with a late 4-0 scoring run and come away with the set win 25-20 and take a 2-1 match lead.
The Volunteers entered the fourth set looking to force a fifth and quickly used a 6-0 scoring run to build a three-point lead.
John A. Logan would hold this lead until Vincennes rallied back with a 5-0 scoring run of their own to make the score 15-13.
John A. Logan would cut the deficit to one-point late in the set but the Trailblazers closed out the match in style on a 6-0 scoring run to take set four 25-18 and the match 3-1.
The win extends the Trailblazers overall winning streak to 11 matches, while also increasing their Region 24 winning streak to 21.
The win also clinches Vincennes the No. 1 seed in the Region 24 tournament Friday, Oct. 28 and Saturday, Oct. 29, hosted at the P.E. Complex.
“We just had to stop making mistakes,†VUVB Head Coach Gary Sien. “Except for the second set, which I thought was pretty decisive from beginning to end, it seemed like we had a lot of leads, that we just gave right back to John A. Logan. In the first set, we had a big lead early on and we were rolling, then we just stopped doing certain things that we were doing really well.â€
“John A. Logan is a much-improved team from the first time we saw them and we knew it,†Sien added. “Anytime you play somebody for the second or third time, you know going into it that they are going to be better. We got off to what is becoming our typical slow start in the first set. Even though we started out well, we just didn’t finish. So I guess there was some progress there because we started out pretty strong.â€
“There were certain things that we wanted to do and then for the next three sets we did them,†Sien said. “It all comes back to serving strong, targeting players and blocking. There were times early on where we struggled to stop their middle attack. They have a pretty nice middle attack, typically Logan trains their middles well. But then we got them later on and they weren’t setting the middles as much.â€
“We got a hand on a lot of shots at the net,†Sien added. “I thought we were close to getting another eight to 10 blocks tonight. Even if we had only gotten half of those, it could have possibly been a quicker match. It’s still always about us that we at times struggle with. We are still trying to figure it out. I do give a lot of credit to the team that they do know about our slow starts. They are very much aware of it and are working on getting a better, stronger mindset from the beginning of the match. The good news is that we know about it, the not so good news is that we still have a little ways to go still with that.â€
The Trailblazers were led offensively by the freshman duo of Paige Parlanti (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Audrey Buis (Franklin, Ind.). Parlanti ended the night with her 18th double-double and third 20-20 match of the season with 21 kills, 23 digs, two aces, one set assist and a block.
