Trailblazers advance to Region 24 Championship with sweep of Lake Land College

MT. CARMEL, Ill. – The Vincennes University Trailblazer volleyball team continued their winning streak Friday afternoon by defeating Lake Land College 25-20, 25-23, 28-26 in the Region 24 Semi-Finals at Wabash Valley.

The VU winning streak now sits at 11 wins in a row dating back to Sept. 25. The Trailblazers have also only lost four sets during this streak.

Vincennes looked to be the more aggressive team in the opening set against Lake Land, as the Blazers jumped out to a 10-3 lead with some excellent serving from freshman Addison Ainscough (Cannelburg, Ind.) who accounted for four aces during the opening set.

Lake Land would rally back to even the score at 15-all midway through the set.

The Trailblazers would battle back however, as Vincennes closed out the first set on a 6-2 scoring run to win the first set 25-20 over the Lakers.

Set two began as a back-and-forth battle one might expect out of these evenly-matched teams before Lake Land launched an impressive 10-1 scoring run to take a 16-7 lead.

VU never gave up though, as sophomore libero Grace Earp (Mattoon, Ill.) stepped to the service line and helped guide an 8-0 scoring run, before the Blazers would get another 4-0 scoring run to take a 19-17 lead.

With the momentum completely shifted to the VU sideline, the Blazers looked to close out the set. After the two teams traded side outs, a serve in the net by Lake Land gave the Trailblazers the set two victory 25-23 and a 2-0 match lead.

Vincennes again got off to a slow start in the third set as Lake Land looked to avoid being swept and keep their Championship dreams alive with a 10-4 early lead.

Sophomore Jamie Russell (East St. Louis, Ill.) was the one to help bring the Blazers back this time, scoring the next six points unanswered, including an ace for Russell, to even the game a 10-10.

The set continued as the two teams traded points and small scoring runs before Lake Land tied the game at 24-24 to force overtime.

Vincennes ultimately served match point four times in the third set before finally being able to close out the Lakers, taking set three and the match 28-26 and sending the Trailblazers into the Region 24 Championship game Saturday, Oct. 30.

"Our blocking and serving were on tonight," VUVB head coach Gary Sien said. "We did not have many blocks in the statistics, but we took away Lake Land's favorite shots. They had to hit around us and go off speed and it took us a little while to adjust but our defense picked up."

"We fought our way back from being behind in every set, which speaks volumes about the strength of this team," Sien added.

VU was led offensively by Addison Ainscough, who finished with a team-high 12 kills and five aces offensively. Ainscough also completed a double-double with 10 digs and a pair of blocks.

Freshman hitter Jagoda Szybinska (Poznan, Poland) also reached double-figures in the kills column, finishing with 10, while also adding seven digs and a pair of blocks defensively.

Sophomores Breanna Metzger (Dale, Ind.), Jamie Russell and Emilie Cornelson (Saskatoon, Canada) had big games at the net, with Metzger finishing with seven kills and two blocks, Russell ending with six kills, three blocks and a pair of aces and Cornelson finishing with four kills and a pair of blocks.

Freshmen Malgorzata Banasiak (Gdynia, Poland) and Hannah Graber (Montgomery, Ind.) rounded out the VU offense, with the pair ending with a kill each.

Graber helped run the VU offense from the setter position with fellow freshman Josephine Mulligan (Saint John, Ind.) with Graber leading the team with 20 set assists and Mulligan ending with a double-double of 15 set assists, 11 digs and a pair of aces.

The Trailblazers back row defense was again run by Grace Earp, who was aided by the return of fellow sophomore Amee Beedle who had missed the last six matches due to injury.

Earp led the Blazers with 14 digs, while also adding a pair of set assists and Beedle came through with nine digs of her own.

"We did not hit well as a team, but we kept on swinging and still got a number of kills," Sien said. "Our serving was exceptional as we served tough and had good location. We had a number of aces, but that didn't tell the whole story, as we went on serving runs with Grace, Addison and Jamie."

The Trailblazers will have a short turnaround as they look to capture their first Region 24 Championship since joining the Region in 2018 against No. 2-seed John A. Logan, Saturday, Oct. 30 at 2 p.m. eastern.

"Same story, different weekend," Sien said. "We will celebrate a bit tonight and get ready to go for a Region Championship on Saturday."

Lake Land – 20  23  26  x  x

VUVB (21-3, 11-0) – 25  25  28  x  x

VINCENNES STATS

Josephine Mulligan – 2 points, 2 aces, 11 digs, 15 set assists

Amee Beedle – 9 digs

Addison Ainscough – 18 points, 5 aces, 12 kills, 2 block assists, 10 digs, 1 set assist

Emilie Cornelson – 5 points, 4 kills, 2 block assists, 1 dig

Jagoda Szybinska – 11.5 points, 10 kills, 1 solo block, 1 block assist, 7 digs

Breanna Metzger – 8 points, 7 kills, 2 block assists, 5 digs

Jamie Russell – 9.5 points, 2 aces, 6 kills, 3 block assists, 1 dig

Grace Earp – 14 digs, 2 set assists

Hannah Graber – 1 point, 1 kill, 4 digs, 20 set assists

Malgorzata Banasiak – 1 point, 1 kill, 1 dig