Easier said than done        

Lady Railers head to East Peoria this weekend

[SEPT. 15, 2005]  LINCOLN -- Sandwiched in between two successive weekends of tough volleyball tournament action, the Lincoln Lady Railers were scheduled last night to play what people said should have been a relatively easy match for them. Someone forgot to tell that to the Urbana Lady Tigers.

The Urbana Lady Tigers came to Lincoln last night posting a 3-9 record. The Lady Railers were sitting at 7-3, with two of their losses coming to past and potentially 2005 state championship teams at the St. Francis Borgia tournament last weekend in Washington, Missouri. On paper the Railers win easily. On the actual volleyball court it wasn’t so easy.     

In game one of the match Lincoln trailed most of the way until some aggressive front line play pulled them through in the end. Lincoln couldn’t seem to get things together as the match began and found themselves down 8-12 when Coach Howe called for a timeout. After some appropriate motivational comments given with the proper emphasis by Coach Howe, the Railers front line seemed to come to life. On the next play Erin Frick was relentless at the net as she blocked and knocked down three successive Urbana hits to bring the Railers to 9-12. The Railers clawed their way back from there mostly on the strength of some nice hitting by Kate Schonauer and an emphatic hit by Jamie Mcfadden that knotted the score at 17-17. Some nice serving by Melissa Ramlow and the net play of Ashley Meyrick brought the scare to an end as the Railers prevailed 25-22.

In game two a combination of good defense and the “excellent serving Ashleys” gave Lincoln the edge. According to coaches in all kinds of sports, great defense leads to inspired offense. Such was the case in game two of the match. Throughout game two I observed almost the entire Lady Railer team at one time or the other strewn across the glossy floor of Roy S. Anderson gymnasium. First it was a beautiful combination defensive save by Ashley Bonaparte and Melissa Ramlow to put the Railers up 6-3. Later on, Ashley Meyrick served and then, as the ball immediately came back from the Urbana side, found herself on the floor almost at the net to dig out a ball for an eventual Railer point. Throughout, it was the reaching, diving and hustling play of Michelle Fitzpatrick and Katie Conklen that repeatedly led to later scoring opportunities. The front row was not about to be left out of the defensive effort either. Erin Frick, Ashley Meyrick and Natalie Boward did most of the “right back at ya” play that prevented the Urbana offense from scoring. And, with the defense running full throttle, the serving of Ashley Meyrick and Ashley Bonaparte finished off the Lady Tigers. Ashley Meyrick scored early and late. Ashley Bonaparte scored in the middle, especially with some nice “soft” touch serves that fell untouched in the middle of the Urbana side of the court for aces. The Lady Railers easily won game two and the match by a score of 25-15.

The varsity improves to 8-3 on the year and heads to East Peoria tomorrow for a weekend tournament there. The Lady Railers return home for a Monday night match against Mt. Zion and then begin Central State Eight conference play on Tuesday as they host the Taylorville Tornadoes.

            GO RAILERS!!

Varsity Stats:

Digs: Fitzpatrick 9; Conklen 8

Blocks: Frick 5; Meyrick 4

Aces: Bonaparte 2

Service points: Meyrick 8; Bonaparte 7

Assists: Bonaparte 19

Kills: Frick 7; Kate Schonauer 6.

Junior varsity wins and freshman stay perfect

The Lady Railers’ junior varsity returned to its winning ways last night as they defeated their Urbana counterparts by a match score of 25-14 and 25-19. Lincoln prevailed with the overall depth of its line-up and especially on the strength of some nice net play by Abbey Feldman and Hilary Hobler and some service runs by Chrissy Schonauer and Cori Wendell. The junior varsity heads to Jacksonville for a tough weekend tournament beginning Friday night with pool play and continuing with bracket play on Saturday.

The youngest Lady Railers kept their record at a perfect 6-0 by also defeating Urbana by scores of 25-13 and 25-21. Lincoln‘s freshmen once again benefited from good serving, nice hustle and a deep bench to pull out the victory. Amy Kelley, Felicia Jackson, Hannah McShane and Laura Aughenbaugh, among others, all had good performances for the Lady Railers. They will be back in action on Monday night, at home, playing the 4:45 match against Mt. Zion.

[Rick Hobler]

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