VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University Trailblazers closed out their Blazer Classic weekend Saturday morning at the P.E. Complex by picking up their 10th win of the season in a 25-11, 25-13, 25-16 sweep over Ancilla College.
The Trailblazers set the tone early in set one, with VU jumping out to an early 9-2 lead in the opening set.
Vincennes continued to hold control of the opening set with a late 6-0 scoring run helping the Blazers grab the 25-11 first set win.
Set two began as more of a back-and-forth battle, with the two teams trading side outs and locking up at 11-11 midway through the set.
VU was the first to grab control of the set with a 4-0 scoring run and later finished off the second set with a 9-0 scoring run to win 25-13 and take a 2-0 match lead.
Ancilla looked determined to not get swept early in the third set, with the Chargers taking the early lead at 8-4.
Vincennes would respond back with a 6-0 scoring run later in the set to grab the lead back.
VU continued to add to their lead throughout the late stages of the third set as VU pulled away with the 25-16 set win and completed the 3-0 match sweep.
“I thought we played pretty good,†VU Assistant Coach Mike Misner said. “We didn’t have the hitting errors we did last night. There were a couple of spots today where we just traded points and we shouldn’t have done that. But when you are coming off an emotional loss against a really good team and you play a team that is not the same caliber as Mineral Area, you may have some of that.â€
“We always try to not disrespect anybody,†Misner added. “We want to always play our best, no matter who it is against. For the most part today I thought we did pretty good. Our hitting percentage was definitely a lot better than last night.â€
The Trailblazers were led offensively by freshman Paige Parlanti (Las Vegas, Nev.) who recorded her eighth double-double of the season with 13 kills and 10 digs. Parlanti also added a pair of aces and a block on the day.
Sophomore Malgorzata Banasiak (Gdynia, Poland) had a big day offensively finishing with an impressive season-high of nine kills.
Freshmen Alexis Chrappa (Effingham, Ill.) and Tuana Turhan (Ankara, Turkey) each finished the day with four kills, with Chrappa adding a pair of digs and Turhan filling out the stats sheet with three blocks, one ace and a dig.
Freshman Audrey (Franklin, Ind.) added three kills to her totals, while also finishing with four digs and a block on the game.
Sophomore Kaley Roush (Shoals, Ind.) and freshmen Nisa Salis (Ankara, Turkey) and Maecy Johnson (Chrisman, Ill.) rounded out the VU offense with Roush ending with two kills and a block. Salis had one kill and one block.
Johnson ended with a kill to go along with her team-high five aces, 12 set assists and four digs.
Johnson ran the VU offense as a setter with sophomore Hannah Graber (Montgomery, Ind.) who ended the day with 16 set assists, four digs and a pair of aces.
Freshman libero Morgan Netcott (Montague, Mich.) and sophomore Lara Gomes de Castro (Sao Paulo, Brazil) patrolled the back row defensively for VU, with Netcott finishing with a team-high 18 digs and one set assist and Gomes de Castro adding five digs on the day.
“We expect that out of Paige,†Misner said. “That’s why we got her and that’s the reason she came here was to lead our team in kills and we hope she does that every night. But we have to have more help around her and last night was the proof of that. Paige did her job and we didn’t get the help out of our other pins last night.â€
“So, we put a little bit more emphasis on Banasiak today and Maecy did a great job of getting her set up,†Misner added. “If we can start getting somewhere around eight to ten kills out of our right sides, it’s only going to help our left sides more. That’s kind of our focus going into next week.â€
The Trailblazers will begin a lengthy road stretch of their schedule next weekend when VU travels to Champaign, Ill. to take part in the Parkland College Fall Challenge.
