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Friday, Sept. 30

Railers get Blazed          Send a link to a friend

By Rick Hobler

[Photos by Kevin McFadden]

[SEPT. 30, 2005]  Tuesday plus Thursday equals one and one.

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.

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