Men's Volleyball:  Lynx Defeat Greenville in Four Sets

[March 01, 2019] 

The Lincoln College Men’s Volleyball team had to shuffle their lineup on Wednesday evening to account for illness and injury, but were still able to defeat the visiting Greenville College Panthers (NCAA) in four sets.

LC was without the services of senior middle hitter Deantrius Coleman (North Chicago) who was out sick and senior outside hitter Corey Poindexter (Overland, MO) was limited to backrow duty due to knee soreness. Sophomore Ramon Matos (Chicago) moved from left side to middle to replace Coleman, while right side Charles Carter (Blue Island) played front row on the left side for Poindexter.

In the opening set of the match, Lincoln’s new lineup showed promise as they battled back and forth with the Panthers throughout the set. LC trailed by just one point at 15-16, but a rash of passing and hitting errors contributed to a 6-0 run by Greenville. Lincoln would eventually lose the set 25-20.

The Lynx did not let the setback frustrate them and returned to more competitive play in set two. Again the two teams traded side outs and one-point leads throughout the set up to a 16-15 score with Lincoln ahead by one. A kill on the next point from Matos off an assist from setter Nick Washington (St. Louis) was followed by a Jack Lindner (Oak Lawn) ace to give Lincoln a three-point advantage. With the momentum shifting to their side, LC was able to extend their lead to four points at 20-16 and eventually take the set 25-20 to even the match.

Lincoln Coach Mark Tippett saw the set two win as a turning point in the match.

“We only had one practice to work out a new lineup,” said Coach Tippett, “so it took us a set or so to get comfortable on the court.”

“Once we found a rhythm on offense, we were able to play with more confidence, and the guys who stepped into new roles really played well. It was a great team effort,” Tippett added.

Lincoln’s increased comfort level was evident in the third and fourth sets as they quickly jumped out to early advantages and maintained three-to-five point leads most of the rest of the match. LC won the third set 25-19 and ended the match with a 25-18 win in set four.

The victory improved the team’s record to 10-5 overall.

Ramon Matos and Charles Carter each reached double digits in kills for LC. Matos accumulated 13 kills and Carter had 11. Jack Lindner was good for six kills and 10 digs in the match. Lindner’s dig total was just two behind that of libero Trenton Kielion (Princeville) who had 12. Setters Nick Washington and Bryan Orellana split the assist duties nearly in half with Orellana recording 20 assists, just one ahead of Washington’s total of 19.

LC’s varsity team is off until March 15th when they will travel to Michigan to participate in the two-day Siena Heights University Invite.

[Mark Tippett
Lincoln College
Sports Information]