VU Region 24 winning streak continues at Trailblazers pick up sweep at Wabash Valley

1. CARMEL, Ill. – The Vincennes University Trailblazer volleyball team improved their winning streak over Region 24 opponents to 16 after Vincennes came away with a 25-18, 25-14, 25-21 sweep at Wabash Valley Wednesday night.

The Trailblazers had to battle early on against the Warriors, holding a narrow 14-11 lead midway through the opening set.

Vincennes would grow their lead and pick up the set one win 25-18.

The VU momentum continued in the second set, with the Blazers opening a 10-point lead at 15-5.

Wabash Valley traded points with Vincennes to close out the set as the Trailblazers came away with set two 25-14.

The Warriors looked to avoid the sweep in set three, jumping out to an early 7-3 lead, before VU would rally back with a pair of 4-0 scoring runs to take a 17-11 lead.

Wabash Valley cut the deficit to two points late in the third set, but the Blazers held on to pick up set three and complete the sweep 25-21.

“We went into this game knowing there was going to be a very active crowd,” VUVB Head Coach Gary Sien said. “We wanted to come out and play well, just so we could take the crowd out of it, so they are not a factor. There were a few times where Wabash Valley went on runs where the crowd got back into it.”

“Credit our team for playing very consistently,” Sien added. “That way the crowd was never really that big of a factor.”

Vincennes was led offensively by freshman Paige Parlanti (Las Vegas, Nev.) who recorded her third career double-double, finishing with 16 kills and 11 digs, while also adding two aces and a block assist.

Freshman Audrey Buis (Franklin, Ind.) ended her night with nine kills and a block assist.

Freshman Alexis Chrappa (Effingham, Ill.) just missed a double-double of her own with seven kills and nine digs.

Freshmen Kennedy Sowell (Effingham, Ill.) and Tuana Turhan (Ankara, Turkey) each finished with five kills, with Sowell also adding two block assists and Turhan adding one.

Sophomores Hannah Graber (Montgomery, Ind.) and Malgorzata Banasiak (Gdynia, Poland rounded out the VU hitting with four kills each.

Graber added 17 set assists and five digs to her totals and Banasiak finished with a block assist and a dig.

Freshman Maecy Johnson (Chrisman, Ill.) led the Blazers from the setter position with 19 set assists, with one dig.

Freshman Morgan Netcott (Montague, Mich.) led the Blazers with 17 digs defensively and one set assist and sophomore Lara Gomes de Castro (Sao Paulo, Brazil) finished with five digs and one ace.

“We had a couple of rotations with six freshmen on the floor tonight,” Sien said. “But much like the Chicago White Sox back in the day, ‘The kids can play’.”

“We have full confidence in Maecy,” Sien added about his freshman setter. “She played a great game. It was her first college start and she comes away with 19 set assists. She ran a really nice offense and made some good choices. It’s tough being the backup setter. She is playing behind two sophomore setters, but she listened. Anybody else in that situation could have just gone through the motions, but she kept at it and listened when we were coaching the other setters and she didn’t miss a beat tonight.”

Vincennes will be on the road again this weekend as the Blazers travel to Perrysburg, Ohio to take part in the Owens CC Tournament Friday, Sept. 2 and Saturday, Sept. 3.

VU will take on Richard Bland College at 3:30 p.m. eastern and Muskegon CC at 5 p.m. eastern to begin the tournament on Friday.

The tournament will conclude on Saturday with VU facing the College of Lake County at 10 a.m. eastern and Glen Oaks Community College at 2:30 p.m. eastern.

“Tonight’s match begins a long stretch of away games in September,” Sien said. “We only play at home three times in the entire month of September, so we just have to get used to it.”

“The nice thing about this weekend is that we are going to a very large tournament,” Sien added. “There will be five different courts going at once, with schools from all around the country. It’s really one of the largest NJCAA volleyball tournaments in the nation. I think it’s a really nice place to showcase our players and allow them to display their talents in another part of the country. We schedule tournaments like this one to get experience playing different teams and continue to get the word out about us.”