 On Friday evening, the team traveled to Centralia to take on
Kaskaskia College. Both teams wore pink uniforms and all proceeds
from the match were donated to breast cancer research. Lincoln
College lost the match to Kaskaskia (28-11) in five sets: 25-18,
22-25, 29-27, 18-25, 9-15.
On Saturday, Lincoln participated in a triangular set of matches
at Region 24 opponent Rend Lake College in Ina. LC defeated the host
school in their first match, again in five sets. This time the Lady
Lynx got off to a slow start, dropping the first set 15-25. In sets
two and three, Lincoln woke up and dominated the Lady Warriors by
scores of 26-16 and 25-15. Rend Lake rebounded in set four to take a
commanding lead at 20-14, but Lincoln made things interesting by
going on a seven-point run to take the lead 21-20. From there the
teams traded side outs and potential set points all the way up to a
score of 32-32. The last two points fell Rend Lake's way, though,
and they won the set 34-32 to force a deciding set to 15. In the
final set, Lincoln roared out to a 9-1 advantage and eventually took
the set and the match 15-4.
The victory over Rend Lake improved the Lady Lynx's region record
to 4-3 and secured the No. 4 seed in the upcoming Region 24
postseason tournament. This will make Lincoln the host site for
their first-round match against the No. 5 seed, Southwestern
Illinois College, on Oct. 31.
This achievement is special to the LC volleyball program because
it will be the first postseason volleyball match played on the
campus of Lincoln College in over 20 years. This is due to the fact
that prior to the opening of the Lincoln Center in 2010, the campus
did not have a facility that met NJCAA minimum requirements for
hosting a postseason match. In years when LC has qualified to host a
postseason match, they have been required to find an alternative,
off-campus site to play.
In their final match of the weekend, Lincoln faced nationally
ranked Vincennes University (No. 8) and lost in three sets: 25-12,
25-16, 25-14.
Lincoln's record stands at 16-13 on the season.
LC individual totals:
-
Jenna Merkel: 42
kills, 16 digs, 21 points
-
Morgan Lesher: 28
kills, 22 digs, 20 points
-
Vicky Arriola: 28
points, 4 aces, 111 set assists
-
Kelly Anderson: 20
kills, 33 blocks
-
Beth Daniels: 14
kills, 20 blocks
-
Taylor Hewitt: 55
digs, 17 points
-
Alyssa Morales: 17
digs, 21 points
-
Kristin Davis: 8 kills, 17 blocks
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LC coach Mark Tippett commented:
"The Kaskaskia match was a battle between two evenly matched
teams playing at a high level. Both teams hit the ball very well and
played intense defense. It is unfortunate we were not able to win
the match, but I was pleased with our effort and the quality of play
I saw on the court.
"It is also unfortunate that we were unable to bring that same
effort to the first set against Rend Lake. Mental errors cost us,
and it took some time for us to adjust to Rend Lake's pace of play.
Once we figured out how to play against them, though, we were able
to control them in sets two and three. Set four was one of the best
battles I have seen in a long time, and, although losing it was
heartbreaking, I think the loss actually fired our team up because
there was no stopping them in set five.
"The win was huge because it secured the number 4 seed in the
region and a home match for the first round of regional play. By
getting the 4 seed, this team has accomplished a goal we set at the
beginning of the season, which was to be in the top half of the
region.
"Fatigue may have been a factor in our loss to Vincennes, but
they were a very strong team and deserving of a top 10 ranking. I
was proud of how we played against them, though, and I feel as
though we learned a lot from the loss."
Lincoln College will begin the final week of their regular season
with a home match on Wednesday evening against Illinois Valley
Community College. The game will be a "Dig Pink" match, and all
proceeds will be contributed to the fight against breast cancer.
[Text from file received from Jeff Nelson,
Lincoln College sports information director]
Lincoln College volleyball
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