Lincoln WVB Goes 3-0 at Home Invite

[September 10, 2019] 

The Lincoln College Women’s Volleyball team picked up the program’s first victory over an NCAA DII opponent and swept two matches against NAIA foes to go undefeated in their first home invitational event of the year. Lincoln has now won six matches in a row to move their record to 7-2 on the season.

On Friday evening, the Lady Lynx hosted Purdue University Northwest (NCAA DII) in what turned out to be the most exciting match of the weekend. LC got off to a strong start and took set one 25-22. Lincoln’s senior opposite Mikayla Seibert (Mackinaw) was a big factor in the opening set victory as she recorded four kills, two digs and a block.

In set two, Lincoln claimed an early 6-3 lead, but Purdue came alive on offense and was able to close the gap, eventually tying the score at 9-9. From there the two teams battled back and forth, trading side outs and small leads all the way up to a 25-25 tie score. Unfortunately for LC, Purdue was able to win the next two points to earn a narrow 27-25 win and even the match at one set apiece.

Purdue carried the momentum from their set two victory into set three and was able to maintain a comfortable lead most of the way before claiming a 25-17 win. However, the Lady Lynx found the strength to regroup in set four and put on a dominating performance. Lincoln and Purdue battled through several long rallies in the early going of the set with LC coming out on top of most of them resulting in a 9-7 Lincoln lead. That lead quickly grew to a more commanding 13-7 advantage behind back-to-back kills from LC senior outside hitter Hannah Cameron (Lincoln), a PUNW ball handling error and an ace serve from sophomore defensive specialist Faith McGinnes (Mackinaw). LC continued to play well the rest of the set on their way to a 25-14 win which forced a deciding set to 15.

The final set of the match again featured several long rallies and outstanding defensive efforts from both teams. Lincoln would manage to be the team to come out on top of the intense action most often which resulted in a 7-3 lead for the Lady Lynx. Much of LC’s early positive momentum came from a four-point run of serves by Hannah Cameron which featured an ace and two kills from Mikayla Seibert. Purdue was able to keep things interesting as they narrowed their deficit to three points at 13-10, but another Seibert kill and a PUNW hitting error sealed the 15-10 win for LC.

Lincoln Coach Mark Tippett had much to praise about his team’s effort. “We really stepped up our game against a talented opponent tonight,” said Tippett. “Our defense and passing off serve receive was outstanding and it was fantastic to see our hitters be as aggressive as they were against a team with such talented athletes and that was able to put up a strong block. We definitely gained a lot of confidence from this match which should serve us well the rest of the season.”

Hannah Cameron led LC in kills with 16 which put her just one ahead of Mikayla Seibert who had 15. Middle hitter Amazing Ashby (Aurora, CO) was next in line with eight kills and she led the team in blocks with five. Libero Megan Gilliam (Waterloo) was credited with 33 digs in the match and setter Morgan Lolling handed out a team-high 48 set assists.

Lincoln did not have long to savor the victory as they came back the next day with two matches against teams from the Chicago area.

Lincoln first took on Governor’s State University and had to work hard to earn a three set win. Set one was closely contested until a Mikayla Seibert kill put LC up 20-19 and sent setter Morgan Lolling behind the service line. Lolling would run off five points in a row recording two aces in the process to help Lincoln earn a 25-19 opening set win. LC then dominated set two, cruising to a 25-11 win. Set three saw GSU come from behind to make things interesting, but in the end, the Lady Lynx held them off for a 25-23 victory to end the match.

The Lady Lynx then faced Calumet College of St. Joseph for their final match of the weekend and was again able to win in straight sets, but this time by wide margins in all three sets. Lincoln played nearly error free most of the way to control the tempo of play and earn wins by scores of 25-9, 25-14 and 25-12.

During play on Saturday, junior outside hitter Josalyn Owens (Lincoln) had 10 kills and seven digs while fellow junior Kayla Battle (Aurora) totaled eight kills and 11 blocks. Senior middle hitter Elysa Smith contributed eight kills and five blocks as well, and junior Ashlyn Slater had seven kills and two aces in her first significant action of the season.

“I was very pleased with the way we performed this weekend,” said Coach Tippett. “We got positive contributions from every player and played well as a team. I look forward to seeing how we carry this momentum over to the tough matches we have coming up this week.”

Lincoln will continue their run of home matches on Tuesday when they host Missouri Baptist University at 6:00 PM. Missouri Baptist comes in to the match with an 11-3 record and is currently the #4 ranked team in the NAIA.

[Mark Tippett
Lincoln College
Sports Information]