VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University Trailblazer volleyball team continued their hot streak after picking up another win, this time over Region 24 opponent Kaskaskia 25-20, 25-15, 25-17.
VU battled back and forth with the Blue Angels in the first set. Kaskaskia jumped out to an early 10-6 lead before VU would answer with a scoring run of their own to even the score at 12-all.
The Trailblazers traded side outs with KCC before VU took four straight points to break away and ultimately win the first set 25-20.
VUVB carried that momentum into the second set as the Blazers jumped out to a 6-3 advantage which later grew into a 18-10 lead on the scoreboard.
Vincennes would close out the second set by winning the last four points to take a 2-0 match lead with a 25-15 set win.
The Blue Angels weren't going to go down without a fight though as Kaskaskia took the early lead in set three 6-2.
But just like in set one, the Trailblazers rallied to even the score and take the lead at 8-7 and never looked back.
Vincennes would go on to win their eighth set in a row and the fourth match in a row by taking set three 25-17.
"The most important thing is to get the Region win," VUVB head coach Gary Sien said. "That helps place you in the Region tournament in March, so those matches are our primary focus. We stress all year how important they are and a lot of times the freshmen don't understand how competitive we are with some of these Illinois schools but I think our sophomores have done a really good job of letting them know how it is over here. There are a couple schools that are our big rivals. Some teams want to go five sets every time we play them."
"Our blocking really turned around tonight because we had zero blocks in the first set. The two outside hitters for Kaskaskia really had their way with us. But once we started getting the blocks on them it made them hit more cross shots, which we're more effective against. That's why Grace Earp had 19 digs because we want to have a big 'detour' sign at the net to stop their line shots."
"Our blocking I think was the difference tonight. We had 13 blocks in two sets, that's pretty outstanding. It's the same thing we did to those two KCC hitters last year, we just blocked them and this match it just took us a little longer to get adjusted. I was really impressed with how we handled it. This was a really tight game, point-for-point and even though we won the first set it was kind of even because they played really well. We could have folded and allowed them to use that momentum but we didn't, we just played harder and our blocking really took off."
The Trailblazer hitters were on point tonight as freshman Jamie Russell led the team with 11 kills, while also adding a block assist and six digs.
Sophomore Breanna Metzger finished with 10 kills, three block assists and eight digs.
Freshman Anna Johnsey had seven kills, two block assists, five digs, a pair of aces and one set assist.
Freshman Emile Cornelson added some help in the blocking game with a solo block and four block assists to go along with her five kills.
Amee Beedle also got in on the fun, finishing with four kills, 13 digs and one set assist.
The VU offense was again expertly set up by sophomore Savannah Grimes who ended her night with 35 set assists.
"I think Amee Beedle gets a little over looked at times," Sien added. "She's a hitter that rarely makes mistakes. She can hit all the different areas of the court, she has very good placement. Coming in from her high school and club background she's been very well trained. She's the smallest hitter out there, but she probably has the biggest arsenal of shots. Not just hard shots but being able to dump the off-speed shots in the middle consistently."
"We have hitters in all six rotations. That's our goal in recruiting, that we don't give up anything in the front row. Volleyball is essentially six games, because every time you rotate it's a new game, we recruit so we can have a really strong presence in the front row with hitting and blocking. Then we have players off the bench like Elizabeth Combs who can come in and play all three positions and she can play back row. Allyson Kuhl is another one, she's a very good back row player but she's another one that you can put in all three spots."
The Trailblazers will have a quick turnaround as VU will host Lincoln Land at the P.E. Complex Saturday, Feb. 13, at 1 p.m. eastern.
"We definitely need to start blocking a lot quicker than a set or a set and a half into the match like we did tonight. That's really our primary thing. We served very well, we're also very strategic in our serving and serving certain areas. I thought our serve receive was overall was pretty good, so we were able to side out with Kaskaskia. You have to have that pass on point so Grimes can run our offense. I thought our defense was fantastic. But it's the blocking that has to be there a lot sooner than it was today."
VINCENNES STATS
Kaskaskia 20 15 17 x x
VU (6-3) 25 25 25 x x
Savannah Grimes – 4 points, 1 ace, 2 kills, 2 block assists, 7 digs, 35 set assists
Amee Beedle – 4 points, 4 kills, 13 digs, 1 set assist
Emile Cornelson – 8 points, 5 kills, 1 solo block, 4 block assists
Anna Johnsey – 10 points, 2 aces, 7 kills, 2 block assists, 5 digs, 1 set assist
Breanna Metzger – 11.5 points, 10 kills, 3 block assists, 8 digs
Allyson Kuhl – 1 points, 1 ace, 2 digs
Jamie Russell – 11.5 points, 11 kills, 1 block assist, 6 digs
Grace Earp – 19 digs
Elizabeth Combs – 1 dig
Olga Vasovic – 9 digs, 1 set assist
