Trailblazers drops pair of hard-fought matches to close out Cardinal Classic weekend

PARK HILLS, Mo – The Vincennes University Trailblazer volleyball closed out their tough weekend tournament Saturday afternoon with a pair of tough losses.

Vincennes fell in the first game of the day to No.3-ranked Indian Hills in four sets 19-25, 13-25, 25-23, 7-25 and closed out the weekend with a hard-fought five set match against Barton Community College, 19-25, 26-24, 25-22, 17-25, 9-15.

The Trailblazers began the day with a very tough matchup against NJCAA No. 3-ranked Indian Hills Community College.

The Warriors wasted little time in the first game of the day, jumping out to a 15-6 lead midway through the opening set.

Vincennes would battle back and cut the deficit to five but were unable to complete the comeback as Indian Hills took set one 25-19.

Indian Hills broke the second set open with a 5-0 scoring run after battling early in the set. The Warriors closed out the second set scoring nine of the final 11 points to take set two 25-13.

VU looked to avoid the sweep in the third set and got off to a great start, scoring the first six points unanswered.

Indian Hills would battle back to even the score but were unable to take the lead as Vincennes grabbed set three, going the distance, 25-23.

The Warriors returned the favor in set four, scoring the first four points unanswered. The Trailblazers would keep the margin at four until Indian Hills broke free with a 4-0 scoring run.

Indian Hills would close out the fourth set and the match on an 11-0 scoring run to take set four 25-7 and the match 3-1.

"Any team, at any level, you really have to attack them with your serves," VUVB Head Coach Gary Sien said. "If nothing else, you can make it more difficult for them to run their offense, but even before all of that, you have to win the side out to get that opportunity. Against a team of that caliber, that's always a struggle."

"At least in the third set we were able to get enough side outs to be able to string together several service runs," Sien added. "We also had a little offense and a bit of blocking which, against Indian Hills, they are hard to block and it's really hard to get a ball down against them. But you just have to keep going after them. There were several big plays throughout the set that got us those points and the set win."

"This is probably one of, if not the strongest team I have seen out of Indian Hills," Sien said. "They are really strong top to bottom in every single position."

The VU offense was led by freshman Paige Parlanti (Las Vegas, Nev.) who picked up her 20th double-double of the season with 10 kills, 12 digs and 3 blocks.

Freshman Audrey Buis (Franklin, Ind.) ended the match with six kills, three digs and one block for the Blazers.

Sophomores Hannah Graber (Montgomery, Ind.) and Malgorzata Banasiak (Gdynia, Poland) each finished with three kills, with Graber adding an ace, four digs and a team-high 14 set assists, while Banasiak finished with three blocks.

Freshmen Alexis Chrappa (Effingham, Ill.), Nisa Salis (Ankara, Turkey) and Tuana Turhan (Ankara, Turkey) rounded out the VU offense with all three recording two kills.

Chrappa would also finish with five digs and three blocks, while Salis led the Blazers with four blocks and Turhan added three blocks, three digs and a set assist.

Sophomore setter Josephine Mulligan (Saint John, Ind.) ended the first match of the day with eight set assists and four digs.

Freshman libero Morgan Netcott (Montague, Mich.) and sophomore Lara Gomes de Castro (Sao Paulo, Brazil) controlled the back row defense with Netcott leading VU with 13 digs and two set assists and Gomes de Castro finishing with five digs and a team-high three aces.

The tough weekend for the Trailblazers continued in the final match of the two-day Cardinal Classic where Vincennes faced off against Barton Community College.

The opening set showed how close of a battle this match was going to be with both teams trading points until a late 5-0 run gave the Cougars the advantage they needed as Barton took set one 25-19.

VU responded in the second set, making quick adjustments to take an early lead.

Barton would battle back and force set point on the Trailblazers. With VU facing a possible 2-0 match deficit, Vincennes rallied to score six unanswered points to come back and take set two in overtime 26-24.

The Trailblazers continued this momentum into the third set, jumping out to a three-point lead before each team traded small scoring runs.

Vincennes would get the upper hand by being the last team to put together a scoring run, closing out set three on a 3-0 run to win 25-22 and take a 2-1 match lead.

Set four was again a back-and-forth battle with the Cougars grabbing the lead midway through the set on a 4-0 scoring run and building on their lead with a late 5-0 run to take the fourth set 25-17 and force a winner-take-all fifth set.

The two teams began the fifth and final set trading side outs, with neither team able to separate themselves until Barton put together a small 3-0 run and would go on to finish the set on a 4-0 scoring run to take set five and the match 15-9.

Vincennes was led in the final match of the weekend by three Trailblazers who each recorded double-doubles.

First was Audrey Buis who picked up her fifth double-double of the season with a team-high 17 kills, 10 digs and four blocks.

Paige Parlanti added another double-double, giving her 21 on the season, with 13 kills, 23 digs and three blocks and Josephine Mulligan came away with her sixth double-double of the season with a team-high 28 set assists, 15 digs, one kill and one ace.

Alexis Chrappa also reached double-digit kills against the Cougars, finishing with 11 kills, four digs, two blocks and a set assist.

Malgorzata Banasiak finished the day with seven kills, five digs and three blocks, while Tuana Turhan rounds out the VU offense with a pair of kills, four digs, three blocks and an ace.

Nisa Salis had a big day at the net defensively, leading the Blazers with five blocks and a pair of digs.

Freshman setter Maecy Johnson (Chrisman, Ill.) had a big match, finishing with 21 set assists and two digs.

Morgan Netcott and Lara Gomes de Castro also had big games defensively, with Netcott ending the weekend with an outstanding 38 digs and two set assists and Gomes de Castro adding eight digs.

"At a certain point against Barton, I thought we kind of hit a wall," Sien said. "Whether it was because of the intensity of the whole weekend or whatnot, we just didn't respond back like we did in the second and third sets."

"We really had some struggles at times to put together some offense," Sien added. "I thought we passed the ball pretty well all weekend but these teams that we faced know what is going on. Playing ranked Division I teams or in the case of Barton who plays in a very tough D-I Region, they have done their research on us. I knew that ahead of time and said that they were going to be keying in on Paige all weekend with her being one of the top kill leaders in the Nation this season."

"They were getting after her on the serves and at times ignoring any of our other hitters and sending two blockers at Paige every time," Sien said. "That's when someone or several other people have to step up because that is going to happen and that's what we try to do against other teams too."

"In that match I thought several of our other hitters did step up," Sien added. "I thought Audrey had an awesome match. In a number of situations in the second and third sets and really the rest of the match I thought she had some big kills. Alexis came through too with double-digit kills as well."

"Another factor all weekend was because of the level of competition, it really felt like the National Tournament," Sien said. "That's something that is new to us. We have faced some good competition this season, but not where every team we played this weekend and every play felt like it was crucial. That's the thing that I think we had to get adjusted to. The thing that I told them afterwards was that we need to learn and be able to sustain that level, something we haven't been challenged with this season."

The Trailblazers will return to the P.E. Complex floor next weekend as VU looks to close out the regular season on a high note in tri-match action against Region 24 opponent Kaskaskia, Saturday, Oct. 22 at 10 a.m. eastern and Kankakee at 2 p.m. eastern.

This tri-match will also serve as Sophomore Recognition Day, with the VU volleyball program honoring their five sophomores before the Kaskaskia match Saturday morning.

"In general, after facing this level of competition this weekend, we just need to realize that we are good, but if we want to advance further than any other Vincennes University volleyball team has, we have to be a lot better," Sien said. "It is definitely about improving on the skills of the game, but it's also about the attitude and mentality, the mental and emotional endurance to go through that."

"As a coach, I didn't play this weekend and even I was tired after these matches," Sien added. "I just can't even imagine how they felt when they were on the floor. I hope this weekend did press upon everybody that that is the level that we still need to strive for. There were definitely some positives out of this weekend. Audrey, I thought, played really well all weekend. Against Barton we put Josephine in a different rotation and I thought she did a great job, probably one of the better matches of her career. Being the second setter in a 6-2 offense, sometimes you don't get as many opportunities, but when she moved up to that first rotation, she had 28 set assists and a double-double. If we have to do that again, we definitely won't hesitate to put her in that same rotation again."

"We are good, but we have to be great to go to Nationals," Sien said. "It starts with the mindset and the attitude on the floor. Having that mental and emotional endurance. It's good for us to have this weekend on the schedule. Last year we didn't go and who knows, maybe if went last year we would have had a different result at Districts. Now we are hoping for a different result at Districts because of this weekend."

BOX SCORE

GAME ONE

Indian Hills – 25   25   23   25   x

VUVB (25-7, 9-0) – 19   13   25   7   x

INDIVIDUAL STATS

Josephine Mulligan – 4 digs, 8 set assists

Audrey Buis – 7 points, 6 kills, 1 solo block, 3 digs

Lara Gomes de Castro – 3 points, 3 aces, 5 digs

Morgan Netcott – 13 digs, 2 set assists

Paige Parlanti – 11.5 points, 10 kills, 3 block assists, 12 digs

Alexis Chrappa – 3.5 points, 2 kills, 3 block assists, 5 digs

Nisa Salis – 4 points, 2 kills, 4 block assists

Tuana Turhan – 3.5 points, 2 kills, 3 block assists, 3 digs, 1 set assist

Hannah Graber – 4 points, 1 ace, 3 kills, 4 digs, 14 set assists

Malgorzata Banasiak – 4.5 points, 3 kills, 3 block assists

GAME TWO

Barton – 25   24   22   25   15

VUVB (25-8, 9-0) – 19   26   25   17   9

INDIVIDUAL STATS

Josephine Mulligan – 2 points, 1 ace, 1 kill, 15 digs, 28 set assists

Audrey Buis – 20 points, 17 kills, 2 solo blocks, 2 block assists, 10 digs

Lara Gomes de Castro – 8 digs

Morgan Netcott – 38 digs, 2 set assists

Paige Parlanti – 14.5 points, 13 kills, 3 block assists, 23 digs

Alexis Chrappa – 12 points, 11 kills, 2 block assists, 4 digs, 1 set assist

Nisa Salis – 3 points, 1 solo block, 4 block assists, 2 digs

Maecy Johnson – 2 digs, 21 set assists

Tuana Turhan – 4.5 points, 1 ace, 2 kills, 3 block assists, 4 digs

Malgorzata Banasiak – 8.5 points, 7 kills, 3 block assists, 5 digs