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The Lincoln Regional final Saturday night pitted
University High School of Normal (24-10) versus the Lincoln Lady
Railers (26-10). At the end of a scary pre-Halloween night, U-High
had an additional loss on their record. The Lady Railers were once
again the Regional champions. Lincoln won the highly contested,
fast-paced match, 25-19; 25-21 to move on to face Bloomington High
School. Bloomington won their match in a three game affair against
Normal West by a match score of 22-25, 25-17 and 25-20.
The first game of the Lincoln match started off well and finished
well. The scary part was every place else. A couple of powerful Erin
Frick kills and a Natalie Boward block started the Railers off well
with a 3-1 lead. Then for a short, cardiac symptom inducing time
period, things went downhill fast. A combination of some Railer
errors and some good U-High play found the scoreboard reading 5-10
in favor of U-High. It was at that time that Coach Howe decided it
was appropriate to have a little courtside chat with her cardiac
kids. The chat must have worked.
Regional Champs - 2005.
On the next ensuing volley, Jamie McFadden resuscitated the Railers
with a kill that ended the U-High run. A kill by Ashley Meyrick
brought the score to 8-11. Then the Railers went into another short
relapse. Behind 9-13 at that point, the multi-talented Railer front
row finally decided to take over. Kate Schonauer got things started
and then Erin Frick took over. A service ace by Samantha Lowman then
knotted the score at 14-14. It was time for the U-High bench to call
for its own courtside chat. Time out U-High.
After the U-High time out, the Lady Railers took their game to the
next level. That "next level" was especially characterized by the
net play of Natalie Boward and Erin Frick and the serving of Melissa
Ramlow. With the score tied at 15-15 and Ramlow serving, Frick hit a
monster kill and on the next play Boward made a monster block to put
the home team up 17-15. The next play was indicative of the reason
the Railers went on to win. A tough U-high kill and a partial Railer
block caused the all important volleyball to go flying over to the
area of the Railer bench. Erin Frick bolted over to the bench and,
refusing to let the ball drop, somehow retrieved the errant pass and
put it back in play. Erin then somehow got back to her outside
hitting position at the net to put down the point winning kill after
a nice set. Melissa continued her service run one more time and the
score stood at 19-16 in favor of the Railers. No heart failure
evident here.
The fans cheer. Another Natalie Boward kill on the next
volley put the score at 20-16. And there is just something about
that magic number 20 point for the Railers. With Shanan McLaughlin
and then Natalie Boward, without a miss, putting the ball in play at
the service line the Railers finished off game one with a McFadden
hit and a Meyrick soft tip into an open U-High court. The Railer
coaches and fans could breathe again. Railers 25, U-High 19.
[to top of second column in this article]
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The battle for the regional title continued in game two with neither
team backing down. This time, the Railers started off slow, stepped
it up in the middle and hung on to win in the end. The two teams
traded points back and forth early, but the Railers fell behind at
2-4. Then, after a nice tip from Boward fell into an un-defended
area of the U-High court, the game began to go the Railers way. That
was due in large part to three consecutive U-High miss hits and some
consistently good serving by Lincoln's Natalie Boward. With the
score at 5-5, and Boward serving, three successive long kills by the
U-High front line gave the Railers an 8-5 lead. They never trailed
again.
It was at this point that I thought the Railer back row finally
stepped up and played to their full potential. Some awesome digs,
especially two or three spectacular ones by Michelle Fitzpatrick and
Katie Conklen, brought the score to 14-10 in favor of the Lady
Railers. From there, setter Ashley Bonaparte did a nice job of
spreading the ball around to all of her hitters as the score stood
at 17-13 Railers.
Then, once again, the cardiac kids gave their coaches and fans
another Halloween scare. U-High was apparently not ready for their
season to end and they showed it here. With some especially nice
work from their setter Regina Feagin and some over-all hustle,
U-High clawed their way back into game two to trail only by a score
of 19-18. Coach Howe again called the ladies over for some intensive
care. The Railers came out of the timeout ready to finish it. A kill
from Erin Frick, a couple of great blocks by the Railer front row
and an ace by Melissa Ramlow lit the scoreboard up at 24-20 in favor
of the Railers. Jamie McFadden finished the matter with a nice soft
touch that the diving U-High defense could not get to and it was
over. Lady Railers 25, U-High 21.
Erin Frick destroys U-High's defense.
I thought Natalie Boward had her best match of the season. Her team
high four blocks and seven service points (including a crucial run
of five in game two) were crucial to the Railer victory. Boward also
added four kills to her night's stats. Erin Frick played as I
expected and beyond my expectations. I expected her to have a team
high in kills and she did with 13! Her hustle to dig the ball out of
the seating area was a turning point in game one. Once again Erin
led by her manner of play. The back row defense started off a little
tentative and then shined. Katie Conklen dug out 8 volleyballs.
Melissa Ramlow added six more and Ashley Bonaparte contributed 5
digs. Ashley Meyrick also added three crucial blocks. Jamie McFadden
used her good court vision to place four kills on the U-High side of
the floor.
The Lady Railers move on to the Sectional semi-final at Normal West
on Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. against a good Bloomington High School
team. It will be the second match of the evening. The first match
will pit Normal Community High School against Champaign Centennial.
Will the LCHS student body show up and cheer or not? I hope so.
I know I don't have to say it, but I will. Get ready ladies! You
are in for a fight... a fight that you can win. Play every point like
it is your last. No "heart failure" is diagnosed for these cardiac
kids. GO RAILERS!!
[Rick Hobler; pictures by Kevin
McFadden] |
