Lincoln Volleyball Sweeps Home Invite

[September 12, 2017]  LINCOLN

The Lincoln College Women’s Volleyball team hosted two matches on Saturday and won them both to improve their record to 9-4 on the season.

Lincoln’s first match was against Region 24 opponent Rend Lake College. LC took charge early in the match and won the first two sets by scores of 25-20 and 25-18. The Warriors rallied in set three to avoid a sweep by handing the Lady Lynx a 25-22 loss to force another set. In set four, the two teams traded early leads with neither able to put together a run of points until Lincoln’s Elysa Smith (Metamora) went behind the service line and ripped off 12 points in a row to put LC up for good. Lincoln would cruise to a convincing 25-10 set win to end the match and improve LC’s Region record to 2-1.

“We played a sound match against Rend Lake and deserved the win,” said Coach Mark Tippett. “Our serving was consistent and we did a good job of containing their offense,” he added.

#14 - Mikayla Siebert

Libero Megan Gilliam (Waterloo) led LC in service points (15) and was second in digs (13). Sophomore Kaylyn Hoffert (Lincoln) was a key contributor to another balanced offensive attack for LC with 10 kills. Cassidy Sanneman (Henry) and Maddie Malinowski each tallied nine kills in the match, while sophomores Elysa Smith and Mikayla Siebert (Mackinaw) had six kills apiece. Setter Jenna Weller (Salt Fork) had a team high 22 set assists.

In the second match of the event, Lincoln faced Macomb Community College from Michigan. Macomb started out strong and maintained a three to five point lead for most of the set thanks in large part to a number of hitting errors committed by Lincoln. LC was unable to recover from their slow start and dropped the first set to Macomb 25-17.

Coach Tippett was not pleased with the way his team started the match. “We made several poor decisions during the first set, but to Macomb’s credit, they put us in some tough situations and we did not respond well,” said Tippett.

Lincoln College Lynx Women's Volleyball team celebrates win over Macomb

The Lady Lynx were able to regroup and cut down on their unforced errors in set two, but Macomb continued to find ways to stop LC from breaking out in the early going. However, the tide would shift once setter Jenna Weller stepped behind the service line with Lincoln up 11-10. Weller’s aggressive serve sparked an eight point Lincoln scoring run that eventually led to a 25-15 set win.

Lincoln would look to keep the momentum in set three, but instead fell into a 7-0 hole to start the set. After an LC timeout, a quick side out on a kill by outside hitter Kaylyn Hoffert got LC on the board. From there, the Lady Lynx would chip away at the Macomb lead until they were able to draw even at 11-11. The Lincoln offensive attack would take over from this point on to roll to a 25-15 win.

“To come back from being down 7-0 to win a set by ten is a tough feat to pull off, but it shows that our players never give up and that we are capable of taking over a match with our offense and aggressive serving,” said Tippett.

With the momentum clearly on their side, the Lady Lynx jumped out to a commanding lead in set four and finished off the match with a 25-17 win. Ouside hitter Maddie Malinowski (Bloomington) led the team with 12 kills in the match while Hoffert was close behind with 11. Right side hitter Mattie Giese was strong at the net for LC with seven kills and two blocks. Elysa Smith was again a key contributor as she recorded five kills and five blocks. Setters Abbi Buelow (Rockford) and Weller each had 16 set assists. Buelow also tallied nine service points and five digs. Defensive specialists Ciara Yon (Granite City) and Erica King (Atlanta) each had six digs in the match.

Lincoln is off until Wednesday when they travel to Godfry, Illinois for a Region match-up with Lewis & Clark College at 6:00 p.m.
 

[Mark Tippett
Lincoln College
Sports Information]