VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University volleyball team kept their Region 24 winning streak alive Friday night at the Physical Education Complex, hosting Lincoln Trail College on Faculty and Staff Appreciation Night.
VU secured their 43rd straight win over a Region 24 opponent by defeating the Statesmen 26-24, 25-20, 25-18.
Vincennes got off to a slow start in set one with Lincoln Trail quickly grabbing an 8-5 lead.
VU would battle back to regain the lead at 12-11 before the Statesmen rallied with three unanswered points.
Lincoln Trail would grow their lead to four points at 23-19 and look to have the Blazers on the ropes in the first set before VU rode a wave on encouragement from the home crowd to close out set one on a 7-1 scoring run and take the opening set 26-24 in overtime.
Vincennes continued to ride this momentum into set two, gaining an early 7-4 advantage and later growing their lead to 18-10.
Lincoln Trail would continue to battle however, cutting the deficit down to three at 19-16 but were unable to overcome the deficit as VU took set three 25-20 to earn a 2-0 match lead.
The Trailblazers looked determined early in set three to finish off another Region 24 sweep, scoring the first four points of the set before the Statesmen would rally to even the score at 8-8.
Vincennes would again find themselves holding an 18-10 lead as Coach Sien began to empty his bench.
Lincoln Trail would look to close the margin late in the third set but were unable to complete the comeback as VU picked up set three 25-18 to complete the three set sweep over the Statesmen.
“Every year we always enjoy having Faculty and Staff Night,” VUVB Head Coach Gary Sien said. “When you talk about the student athlete, we obviously talk a lot about the athlete part, but I always feel we need to talk about the student part more. Tonight we got to see that these faculty and staff members really mean a lot to our athletes and it was great to recognize that and the big part that they play in their lives. There are a number of professors that told me that they still keep in touch with our athletes from years back, even going back to my first year in 2016.”
“Having the long recognition before the game I think got us off to a slow start tonight,” Sien added. “We really were slow the entire first set and it felt like we were playing catch up. We were down 19-23, we got Brooklyn in there and she is just a real spark off the bench. She always comes in and makes a big serve, a big serving run or a couple of big digs. She may be quiet vocally, but she is loud when it comes to her play.”
“After that comeback to take set one we definitely used that m
