VUVB extends winning streak to seven with sweep at Showdown on the Wabash

VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University Trailblazer volleyball team have won their last seven matches after picking up a pair of sweeps at the P.E. Complex Friday afternoon on day one of the Showdown on the Wabash Classic.

Vincennes defeated Region 24 opponent Wabash Valley 25-20, 25-16, 25-17 and came back to sweep Gadsden State Community College 25-16, 25-12, 25-13.

The Blazers opened the two-day classic by facing Region 24 opponent Wabash Valley for the second time in a week.

Vincennes took an early lead, jumping out to a 7-3 advantage on the Warriors and managed to hold the lead throughout the opening set. VU won set one 25-20.

Set two began as more of a battle, with the two teams even at five-all before Vincennes rallied to score six points unanswered.

Wabash Valley continued to battle but could not put together any scoring runs to cut into the Trailblazer lead, giving Vincennes the 25-16 set two win and the 2-0 match lead.

WVC looked to avoid being swept for the first time all season, jumping out to the early 6-3 lead in the third set.

Vincennes would answer back to even the score at six-all before taking their first lead at 8-7.

The two teams traded points, with Wabash Valley only able to tie the score, pulling even at 14-all.

VU again rallied, scoring six straight to help build a 20-14 lead an eventually take set three, 25-17, giving the Blazers their sixth straight win.

"We had a tough match at Wabash Valley last week because of things out of our control and we didn't have those things here," VUVB head coach Gary Sien said. "We just know what we can do, with our strategy, our blocking, serving and we did a really nice job of just following the game plan."

"We're definitely going to keep our eye on Wabash Valley, they definitely have quite a bit of talent there, so we will likely see them again in the Region Tournament," Sien added.

The Blazers were led by freshman Jagoda Szybinska (Poznan, Poland) in the opening match. The Polish hitter led VU with 10 kills and four aces, while also finishing with eight digs.

Sophomore Breanna Metzger (Dale, Ind.) and Jamie Russell (East St Louis, Ill.) hit the ball efficiently, with Metzger finishing with a .318 hitting percentage and nine kills. Russell ended the first match of the day with a 3.13 hitting percentage and eight kills for VU.

The duo also finished with three block assists, one dig and a set assist each.

Freshman Addison Ainscough (Cannelburg, Ind.) had a solid opening match both offensively and defensively, ending with six kills and 14 digs to go along with a pair of set assists and an ace.

Sophomore Emilie Cornelson (Saskatoon, Canada) and freshman Malgorzata Banasiak (Gdynia, Poland) rounded out the VU offense, with Cornelson adding four kills and a pair of block assists and Banasiak contributing three kills and a block assist.

The Trailblazer offense we well set up by freshman setters Josephine Mulligan (Saint John, Ind.) and Hannah Graber (Montgomery, Ind.) who finished the match with 17 set assists each.

Graber would complete her fifth double-double of the season by adding 11 digs defensively, with Mulligan ending the match with four digs.

VU was led defensively by sophomore Grace Earp (Mattoon, Ill.) who ended with a team-high 15 digs and a pair of set assists.

Freshman Lara Gomes de Castro (Sao Paulo, Brazil) saw some action on the back row for the Trailblazers and ended the opening match with three digs on her stat line.

The Blazers came back strong in their second match of the day against the Gadsden State Community College Cardinals.

VU started the first set of the match by scoring five of the first six points, before the Cardinals rallied back to cut the Vincennes lead to a single point.

Vincennes responded back by taking a 16-9 lead after a pair of four-point scoring runs.

The Trailblazes held the lead to take set one 25-16 over the Cardinals.

Vincennes continued their impressive play, holding a 15-5 advantage midway through the second set.

Gadsden State attempted a comeback, scoring the next four points unanswered before VU would respond by a 7-1 scoring run of their own.

The VU lead was too much for the Cardinals as Vincennes took set two 25-12 to hold a 2-0 match lead.

The Trailblazers rolled into the third set by jumping out to a commanding 13-2 lead midway through the set.

Vincennes looked determined to complete the sweep as the Blazers continued to build on their lead to take set three and the match 25-13, giving VU their seventh consecutive win.

"Gadsden State played Wabash pretty tough right before our match," Sien said. "We can't disrespect anybody here; everyone we play is going to be really good and this really could have been a trap game for us."

"We could have been caught looking ahead to John A. Logan tomorrow, which will be a challenging match, and we could have just skipped over Gadsden State," Sien added. "But we played pretty hard. We had several rallies with people diving all over the floor and being scrappy. That right there shows our heart."

"That's one thing about this team, they treat every game like it's important and we played very aggressively. We attacked them with our serving. We could have done a little better with our blocking, but that's a difficult skill to pick up and we've still got a little bit of the season left to improve on it."

The Trailblazers were led by Addison Ainscough against Gadsden State. Ainscough finished with 11 kills, six digs and an ace, while also finishing with a .333 hitting percentage.

Jagoda Szybinska and Jamie Russell played well on both sides of the net, with Szybinska finishing with nine kills and a .500 hitting percentage, while also adding a pair of blocks, digs and set assists.

Russell ended her day with seven kills and a .455 hitting percentage, with a team-high four blocks, three digs and a set assist.

Breanna Metzger finished with four kills, three digs, a pair of blocks and a set assist.

Emilie Cornelson played well defensively at the net for the Blazers, ending her night with three blocks, two kills and a dig.

Setters Hannah Graber and Josephine Mulligan helped run the Trailblazer offense, with Graber finishing with a team-high 18 set assists, three aces, five digs and one kill.

Mulligan finished with 14 set assists and four digs defensively.

Libero Grace Earp had an impressive match both defensively and from the service line, finishing with a team-high 18 digs and a staggering five aces.

The Trailblazers as a team hit the ball very efficiently, finding numerous ways to hit past the Gadsden State blockers, finishing the match with a .342 hitting percentage as a team.

"Our hitting starts with our passing," Sien said. "If we pass on point, right up to the net, in between right front and middle back, in what's called 'Zone 7', we can run anything out of our offense."

"Our setters have done an exceptional job. Joie and Hannah have been confident and have taken charge, like they should. When we passed to either one of them out there, they ran a really nice offense today and it all goes back to our first contact and being aggressive."

"It's our mindset right now. We're going to be competitive. We're going to fight and we're just going to take it to the other team. That's what we see in our offense and in our serving."

The Trailblazers will start the final day of the Showdown on the Wabash Classic tomorrow, Saturday, Oct. 9 by hosting Region 24 opponent John A. Logan at 12 p.m. eastern.

"John A. Logan has a long tradition of winning Region Championships, before last year they had won three straight and had won a couple more before that, so we're going up against a team that has a lot of tradition," Sien said. "When they are in system, they are going to be pretty effective, so we have to go after them with our serving and our blocks."

"They've got a so-so record but we can't disrespect them. Records don't mean anything. Anyone can beat anyone on any given day, so it's going to be a tough match tomorrow."

Wabash Valley – 20  16  17  x  x

VUVB (16-3, 7-0) – 25  25  25  x  x

VINCENNES STATS

Josephine Mulligan – 4 digs, 17 set assists

Addison Ainscough – 7 points, 1 ace, 6 kills, 14 digs, 2 set assists

Lara Gomes de Castro – 3 digs

Emilie Cornelson – 5 points, 4 kills, 2 block assists

Jagoda Szybinska – 14 points, 4 aces, 10 kills, 8 digs

Breanna Metzger – 10.5 points, 9 kills, 3 block assists, 1 dig, 1 set assist

Jamie Russell – 9.5 points, 8 kills, 3 block assists, 1 dig, 1 set assist

Grace Earp – 15 digs, 2 set assists

Hannah Graber – 11 digs, 17 set assists

Malgorzata Banasiak – 3.5 points, 3 kills, 1 block assist

Gadsden State CC – 16  12  13  x  x

VUVB (17-3, 7-0) – 25  25  25  x  x

VINCENNES STATS

Kaley Roush – 1 dig

Josephine Mulligan – 4 digs, 14 set assists

Addison Ainscough – 12 points, 1 ace, 11 kills, 6 digs

Lara Gomes de Castro – 10 digs

Emilie Cornelson – 4 points, 2 kills, 1 solo block, 2 block assists, 1 dig

Jagoda Szybinska – 10 points, 9 kills, 2 block assists, 2 digs, 2 set assists

Breanna Metzger – 5 points, 4 kills, 2 block assists, 3 digs, 1 set assist

Jamie Russell – 9 points, 7 kills, 4 block assists, 3 digs, 1 set assist

Grace Earp – 5 points, 5 kills, 18 digs, 1 set assist

Claudia Mendoza – 0.5 points, 1 block assist

Hannah Graber – 4 points, 3 aces, 1 kill, 5 digs, 18 set assists

Malgorzata Banasiak – 2.5 points, 2 kills, 1 block assist