CENTRALIA, Ill. – The Vincennes University volleyball team completed one of their main early season goals Saturday afternoon after successfully defending their NJCAA Division I Region 24 crown for the second year in a row with a four-set victory over John A. Logan College.
The Trailblazers defeated the Lady Volunteers 18-25, 25-17, 25-23, 25-17 Saturday at the NJCAA Division I Region 24 Championship tournament hosted by Kaskaskia College, giving Vincennes their third straight Region 24 championship.
The day did not get off to a great start for the top-seeded Blazers, falling behind early in set one 10-6.
John A. Logan continued to take advantage of some early VU mistakes, growing the lead to 23-15 before Vincennes would attempt a late comeback but ultimately coming up short as John A. Logan grabbed set one of the Championship match 25-18 and earned the 1-0 match lead.
Vincennes looked to bounce back in the second set and did so in a big way, using a massive 9-1 scoring run to take a commanding 17-6 lead over the Lady Vols in set two.
John A. Logan would try to slowly chip away at this big VU lead but were unable to put together a big scoring run of their own as VU took set two 25-17 and evened the match at 1-1.
Looking to continue this momentum the Trailblazers grabbed another early lead in a pivotal third set, jumping out to a 9-3 advantage.
John A. Logan would again answer back to cut the VU lead back down to one before the Trailblazers answered with six unanswered points to take a 16-9 lead.
The Lady Vols would again battle back, rallying to even the set at 21-21, before the two teams traded side outs.
Vincennes would slam the door on a John A. Logan comeback, literally, with freshman Laura Tavares (Merida, Venezuela) slamming the ball down over the net for set point to give VU the 25-23 set three victory and gaining the Trailblazers a 2-1 match lead.
The Trailblazers would not let up to begin set four, looking to capture their third-straight Region 24 Championship, the Blazers quickly built an 11-5 lead over the Volunteers.
Vincennes would grow their lead to as many as eight at 21-13 before John A. Logan cut the deficit back down to five at 22-17.
VU would close out the match with three unanswered points to take set four 25-17 and earn the 3-1 match victory and becoming 2023 NJCAA Division I Region 24 Champions.
"We had talked a lot about how John A. Logan was going to start the game really strong," VUVB Head Coach Gary Sien said. "We knew they were going to give us everything they can at the beginning and as always, it comes down to whether we can match that level of intensity or even surpass it."
"I don't think there was any panic on our side after dropping the first set," Sien added. "That's something I'm really proud of with this group. They looked at it like 'they played well and we didn't, so we need to turn it up over here' and from how the second, third and fourth sets went, we definitely did."
"It was another showing of how mentally tough this team really is," Sien said. "To be able to bounce back like they did and I really thought the third set was the key today. It was tight. It didn't start out that way, we built a little bit of a lead early but Logan battled back and made it really tight. I kind of thought that whoever was going to win that third set was going to win the match just because it was so tough and there were so many battles. That third set was really the key for us today and to end it the way we did with Maecy serving a really tough serve and Laura goes up at the net and slams the ball down, that's tough to recover from after battling all the way back and being that close."
"I also want to thank all of the families and fans that followed us out to Kaskaskia this weekend and all over the country this season," Sien added. "We have had family members of our players come out to tournaments in Alabama, Missouri and Ohio so it feels great to have that support from all of the families for their daughters on the team. When we say that it's a family, it really feels true with this team."
"I also want to thank the athletic department at Kaskaskia College for taking care of Kennedy this weekend," Sien said. "The training staff, the athletic director and their coaching staff, they took care of her both on Friday when she got hurt and all day today. She was even doing some follow ups with the trainer today. So I just really want to thank them for doing that for someone that's not from their school. We, the team and I really appreciated that."
The Trailblazers were again led by an outstanding game by sophomore Paige Parlanti (Las Vegas, Nev.) who led the Blazers with a 20-kill, 11-dig double-double, while also adding three blocks and one ace.
Sophomore Audrey Buis (Franklin, Ind.) finished her day with eight kills, 15 digs, a team-high three aces, one block and one set assist.
Freshman Laura Tavares had a big game at the net, finishing with seven kills and a team-high five blocks, along with fellow freshman Elisa Dalla Pozza (Vincenza, Italy) who ended with eight kills, two blocks, two digs and one ace.
Freshman Isadora Dias (Rio Grande de Norte, Brazil) rounds out the VU offense Saturday, ending her night with six kills, four blocks and one dig.
Sophomore setter Maecy Johnson (Chrisman, Ill.) continues to run the VU offense extremely well, coming away with 49 set assists, four digs, two kills, one block and one ace.
Sophomore libero Morgan Netcott (Montague, Mich.) had another exceptional game defensively for the Blazers, ending with a team-high 21 digs and one set assist.
Freshman Dylan DeCoursey (Montgomery, Ind.) entered the game to give the Blazers another tough server and more help defensively in the back row and had her best game of the season on the biggest stage, setting a new career-high with eight digs and coming away with one ace.
"What a sophomore class," Sien said. "For them to return, for these five to come back and get this done is tremendous. They showed so much calm leadership in this match. This was probably by far our toughest match this year just because of the expectations going into it with the streak and going for a three-peat. When you walk into the gym, it's almost like everyone is against you. Unless someone's ever been in that situation, they will never fully understand the pressure they faced today."
"For this group to play above that, what more can a coach ask for," Sien added. "I always ask them to lead and to be calm. We talked about not letting our emotions get too high or too low because the game is like that and they went out there and did it and the rest of the team followed their lead. What a wonderful set of leaders that we have. To not only be players, but to be leaders."
"Dylan was a state champion in high school," Sien said. "You can't buy that level of experience. She's always been placed in big-time pressure situations her entire career. Starting as a sophomore in high school and winning a state championship and continuing to lead her team at Barr-Reeve her junior and senior years as they jumped up to Class 3A, that is also a lot of pressure. We put her out there in a position she's never really played before. She's never really been a DS before but she is very quick on defense and serves extremely well. I also wanted to bring her in for her tough serves. For her to respond to all of that like she did, to help the team win and to bring some real energy onto the floor with her, that's exactly what we need. When you go in and out on the floor, when you go in you have to bring a spark and be a high-energy player out there and she did that wonderfully. I'm very proud of her for being able to do that."
"Isadora stepping up, having not played a whole lot of middle this season, with Kennedy being out we had to make some adjustments on offense, but she had some key kills when we really needed it," Sien added. "That's just another example of stepping up when your number is called."
The Trailblazers will now advance on to the Midwest District A Championship tournament next Saturday, Nov. 4 hosted by Indian Hills Community College in Ottumwa, Iowa.
Vincennes University will face the runner-up from Region 16 Missouri State University-West Plains in the semi-final round at 2 p.m. eastern.
The winner of that match will advance to the NJCAA Division I Midwest District A Championship match against the winner of host Indian Hills C.C. and an opponent that has not been decided at the time of posting at 6 p.m. eastern.
The winner of the Midwest District A Championship will receive an automatic bid into the 2023 NJCAA Division I Volleyball National Championship tournament in Hutchinson, Kan.
"It seems like the last couple of years we have been so close and every year I challenge the team and ask, 'is this the year?'," Sien said. "Is this the year that we are going to add more to the history of this program? So they know that that's right in front of them next weekend and we've got a great chance. I feel that we have the players to do it. If we play with a higher energy, who knows."
"We are going to go in, no matter what our record is, as the underdog next weekend," Sien added. "No one in the world is going to expect anything from us and that's fine with us. We love playing the underdog role. We are just going to have to go out there and prove ourselves."
"We have all of the abilities, the ball-control, the blocking, that's what really won us the game today," Sien said. "And there were times when I thought we passed really well, but we just didn't really execute on offense. But when you have the blocking and the serve receive, any team you play against, you are going to come out ahead."
In the third-place game Saturday as Kaskaskia, host and No. 3 seed Kaskaskia College won over No. 4 Lincoln Trail College 25-15, 25-15, 25-23.
BOX SCORE
John A. Logan – 25 17 23 17 x
VUVB (31-6, 14-0) – 18 25 25 25 x
VINCENNES STATS
Audrey Buis – 11.5 points, 3 aces, 8 kills, 1 block assist, 15 digs, 1 set assist
Dylan DeCoursey – 1 point, 1 ace, 8 digs
Morgan Netcott – 21 digs, 1 set assist
Paige Parlanti – 23 points, 1 ace, 20 kills, 1 solo block, 2 block assists, 11 digs
Isadora Dias – 8 points, 6 kills, 4 block assists, 1 dig
Maecy Johnson – 3.5 points, 1 ace, 2 kills, 1 block assist, 4 digs, 49 set assists
Elisa Dalla Pozza – 10 points, 1 ace, 8 kills, 2 block assists, 2 digs
Laura Tavares – 10.5 points, 7 kills, 2 solo blocks, 3 block assists
