|
On Tuesday night the Lincoln Lady Railers barely escaped from
Glenwood High School with a victory in an emotional,
down-to-the-wire match.
On Thursday, in another hard-fought match -- with their main
conference rivals, the Blazers of Sacred Heart-Griffin, in town --
the Lady Railers weren't so fortunate.
SHG handed Lincoln its first conference loss 25-21, 25-22. The
game scores do reflect how close it really was.
[Chrissy Schonauer kills for the JV.]
The game one observations are fairly simple. Lincoln had no
answer for the play of SHG's Rachel Santarelli. Santarelli dominated
the net and was consistent with her serving as she rotated all
around the floor. My notes show seven kills and five service points
for the SHG star in game one alone. The Lady Railers started out
well as they took an early 4-0 lead. Then two successive Santarelli
kills brought SHG to 2-4. The Railers maintained a slim lead in a
back-and-forth match until a Santarelli soft tip knotted the score
at 14-14. The first game seemed to slip away from Lincoln after
that. A timeout by Lincoln's coach Howe at 16-18 helped only
momentarily, as SHG ran their score into the low 20s. A Jamie
McFadden kill and her ensuing serve brought the Railers within two
with the score at 20-22. In the end, though, with the score at
21-24, it was once again a Santarelli kill that closed the door on
the Railers.
In game two, the Railers DID have an answer for SHG. Actually the
Railers had three to five answers. The answer at the net was
primarily Erin Frick, with a lot of help from Ashley Meyrick and
Natalie Boward. On the back row, the answers were primarily Michelle
Fitzpatrick and Katie Conklen. When SHG went for the kill,
especially through Santarelli, the front threesome sent the kills
right back to the SHG side of the net with some awesome blocks. When
SHG kills got past the blocks, the back row was equally awesome in
keeping the ball from hitting the floor on the Railer side of the
court. Fitzpatrick had some incredible digs, including two in
succession on match point, which were indicative of her fine
performance as the team's defensive specialist. Katie Conklen
continued her adrenaline-inspired play on the back row. Melissa
Ramlow also had some diving defensive saves throughout the match.
[Kate Schonauer scores for the varsity.]
[to top of second column in this article] |
 In spite of the defensive effort in game two, Lincoln played from
behind until a touch service ace from Ashley Bonaparte tied the
score at 9-9. Before Ashley rotated over, the score was 12-9 in
favor of the Railers. The Railer front line of Boward, Frick,
Meyrick and McFadden stepped it up over the next series of plays,
and the Railers led 16-12. But, as Erin Frick and others continued
to stuff Santarelli, other SHG hitters began to get through. Then, a
couple of Railer miss-hits leveled the score at 20-20. A beautiful
dig by Fitzpatrick, a giant kill by McFadden and a well-placed deep
tip by Bonaparte put the Railers up 22-20. I pulled out more paper
in preparation for a three-game match, but it was not to be. SHG
came back, after a timeout, to knot the score at 22-22. Then a
service ace by SHG brought Lincoln to the brink of defeat at 22-24.
At match point, Michelle Fitzpatrick dug out two hard-hit balls only
to have SHG sophomore Caitlyn Sullivan launch a third missile, which
was not returnable. SHG won the game 25-22 and the match.
[Jamie McFadden scores for the varsity.]
In the category of unsolicited comments from this reporter to the
Lady Railer players, I would have to say that although the Lady
Railers are playing well and their record looks great, there appears
to be something missing. Although I think I know what it is, I can't
quite put my finger on it yet. I solicit any thoughts from the Lady
Railers to help keep me from lying awake at night wondering what it
is.
With the loss, the Railers stand at 2-1 in CS8 play and 15-5
overall. The varsity heads to Moline this weekend for a tournament
before resuming conference play at Springfield Lanphier on Tuesday
night.
Railer junior varsity wins again
The Lady Railer JV squad easily defeated its SHG counterpart
25-10 and 25-22 last night. The Railers were led by the net play and
service accuracy of Chrissy Schonauer. The junior Railers head to
Champaign Centennial on Saturday for an all-day tournament and also
head to Lanphier next Tuesday to resume conference play.
GO, RAILERS!!
[Rick
Hobler]
Respond to the writer at
rhobler@lccs.edu.
|
