Men's Volleyball:  Lynx Raise Championship Banner and Defeat Goshen in 1st NAIA Home Event

[February 12, 2019] 

The Lincoln College Men’s Volleyball team celebrated their 2018 National Club Volleyball Federation (NCVF) DII National Championship on Friday evening by raising a new banner in the Jack D. Nutt Arena. The team then went on to win their first home match of 2019 and first as a new member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) over Goshen College (NAIA) in four sets.

The first three sets of this match were nail-biters as the teams traded leads and battled through long rallies throughout the early going. Lincoln was able to find the will to win in the first two sets by two points (25-23, 27-25) before it was Goshen’s turn to pull off a two-point win in set three 26-24 to force another set.

In set four, Lincoln made sure the outcome of the match would not be in doubt as they turned up the heat on Goshen and cruised to a decisive 25-15 win. The victory improved the team’s record to 4-3 on the season.

In the match, the Lynx were led in kills by junior right side hitter Charles Carter (Blue Island). Carter racked up 15 kills on the night, while sophomore left side hitter Ramon Matos (Chicago) provided a fantastic all-around effort by amassing 12 kills, seven digs, and a team high seven service aces.

North Chicago High School grads Greg Scott and Deantrius Coleman were also productive for LC. Scott contributed eight kills and two blocks to the winning effort, and Coleman was good for five kills and led the team with four blocks.

Libero Trenton Keilion (Princeville) sparked the defensive effort for Lincoln with 18 digs.

Senior setter Bryan Orellana (Chicago) led the team with 23 set assists. Orellana was just one set assist ahead of fellow setter Nicholas Washington (St. Louis) who had 22. Washington also recorded four aces in the match including a key ace serve at the end of set one which put LC up 24-23. Washington followed that ace with a strong serve that took Goshen out of system and led to the hitting error that gave LC the 25-23 set one win.

Lincoln Head Coach Mark Tippett was happy to see his team find success on such a special evening. “It’s not every day you get to raise a championship banner,” said Tippett. “I am glad we were able to follow it up with a victory in front of our home fans. We did not play up to the level we are capable of, but we made the plays we needed to make to earn the win.”

LC is off until Friday, February 15th when they will host Culver-Stockton College at 7:00 PM. LC will then play twice at home on Saturday the 16th with matches at Noon (vs Lawrence Tech) and 4:00 PM (vs Judson).

[Mark Tippett
Lincoln College
Sports Information]