FAIRFIELD, Ill. – The Vincennes University Trailblazer volleyball team took their show on the road again Wednesday night, traveling to Fairfield to take on Frontier Community College.
VU came away with the three-set sweep over the host Bobcats, winning 25-15, 25-18, 25-16.
Vincennes found themselves in a tight back-and-forth battle to start the opening set. Frontier worked their way back from down 7-3 to even the score at nine-all.
The Trailblazers responded quickly however, going on a 8-1 scoring run.
Vincennes would continue to grow their lead and would come away with the first set win 25-15.
VU carried their momentum into the second set, scoring the first four points of the game.
The two teams would trade side outs until Frontier cut the deficit to just two points.
The second set would end on a series of scoring runs, with the Blazers ultimately coming away with the 25-18 set victory.
The Bobcats looked to defend their home floor in set three after gaining an early 5-3 lead.
VU would again respond, this time with freshman Lara Gomes de Castro (Sao Paulo, Brazil) at the service line, leading the way for an 8-0 scoring run.
The Blazers built on this advantage and finished out the set on a 7-0 scoring run to take set three and the match 25-16.
"While I always appreciate a win, we looked a little disjointed and didn't really have a lot of consistency out there," VUVB head coach Gary Sien said.
VU was led offensively by sophomore hitter Jamie Russell (East St. Louis, Ill.). Russell led the Blazers with eight kills and three block assists, while also adding an ace and one dig on the night.
Sophomore Amee Beedle (Wheaton, Ill.) finished her night with seven kills, a team-high 10 digs and two aces.
Breanna Metzger (Dale, Ind.), Addison Ainscough (Cannelburg, Ind.), Emilie Cornelson (Saskatoon, Canada) and Jagoda Szybinska (Poznan, Poland) all finished the game with six kills each.
Freshman Josephine Mulligan (Saint John, Ind.) ran the Trailblazer offense all night from the setter position, ending her night with 30 set assists, to go along with four kills and four digs.
"One bright spot for us was that we served really well," Sien said after his team combined for 11 aces on the night. "Our serving allowed us to go on some runs, which really helped us to the win."
"Lara Gomes had a good run for us in the third set," Sien added. "Addison Ainscough had a couple of scoring runs, as well as Josephine Mulligan and Grace Earp."
Vincennes will hit the road again this weekend when the Blazers travel to Champaign, Ill. to take part in the Parkland College Classic Friday, Sept. 24 and Saturday, Sept. 25.
VUVB will face host Parkland College Friday at 2 p.m. eastern, followed by Des Moines Area at 4 p.m. eastern.
The classic will conclude Saturday when VU faces McHenry County at 10 a.m. eastern., followed by Lincoln Land at 12 p.m. eastern.
"We missed several really good matches when we didn't go to the tournament at Owens earlier this year because similar to this, there were some good teams there that I was looking forward to playing," Sien said. "All four of the teams we are going to play this weekend are either presently ranked in Division II or have been ranked this season."
"It's going to be a pretty difficult tournament. Plus, we're playing back-to-back both days," Sien added. "We played tougher competition at the IU-Kokomo scrimmage before the season. That's why we went to that, was to prepare us for tournaments like this weekend, where you have to play some of the toughest teams in Division II back-to-back."
Frontier – 15 18 16 x x
VUVB (8-1, 2-0) – 25 25 25 x x
INDIVIDUAL STATS
Josephine Mulligan – 4 points, 4 kills, 4 digs, 30 set assists
Amee Beedle – 9 points, 2 aces, 7 kills, 10 digs
Addison Ainscough – 9 points, 2 aces, 6 kills, 2 block assists, 3 digs, 1 set assist
Lara Gomes de Castro – 1 point, 1 ace, 4 digs, 1 set assist
Emilie Cornelson – 6 points, 6 kills, 2 digs
Jagoda Szybinska – 8 points, 2 aces, 6 kills, 6 digs
Breanna Metzger – 9.5 points, 2 aces, 6 kills, 1 solo block, 1 block assist, 7 digs
Jamie Russell – 10.5 points, 1 ace, 8 kills, 3 block assists, 1 dig
Grace Earp – 1 point, 1 ace, 8 digs
Malgorzata Banasiak – 1 dig