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Tough, but not enough

[SEPT. 25, 2001]  The will to win. Refusing to lose. Both are two sides of the same coin. Last night one team had more of both than the other. Unfortunately, the team with more was the Olympia Spartans. The Lady Railers played tough, but tough was not enough to win.

Olympia came into last night’s match with a 19-2 record and was all business from the warm-up time until its business was finished. Its business was to take care of an excellent Lady Railer team. A hard-fought battle ensued between botsh champion-caliber teams. The Railers had victory in sight in both games but couldn’t finish off the Spartans in either game. In the end, it was Olympia who would outlast the Lady Railers 15-11, 16-14 to take home their 20^th win.

In Game 1 the Lady Railers maintained a lead through the 11-point mark and then let the victory slip away. The Railers played tough as the match began. An opening serve from Kari McFadden and a kill by Samantha Conrady broke the ice and gave the Railers a lead they would not relinquish again until the scoreboard showed 12-11 Olympia.

But while the Railers led most of the way, Oly was always right at the door looking to take over. Ultimately it was Olympia’s Laura Doombas, at the net and at the service line, who took over and who proved too much for the Lady Railers. Doombas was everywhere, and wherever she was things happened. Her hard kills at the net were virtually untouchable. Her hard jump serve frustrated the Railers all night. With the score 11-8 in favor of the Lady Railers, Doombas stepped to the service line for Oly. When she finished there, the game was over. Doombos ran off seven successive serves that finished off the Railer hopes for a victory.

Bright spots for the Lady Railers in Game 1 included the serving and net play of Darcy White and the team net play by Tina Cook, Michelle McFadden, Kari McFadden and Samantha Conrady.

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In Game 2 it looked like the Railers would force a three-game match, as they overcame an early Oly lead to bring themselves to the brink of victory at 14-12. But the Spartans just wouldn’t allow themselves to lose. The entire game was again a back-and-forth affair with the Railers’ biggest lead being four points at the 10-6 mark. But once again it was Oly’s Laura Doombas, along with Elizabeth Siuda, who had more of a will to win than anyone on the floor. Doombas’ plays on a defensive block at 14-14 and another powerful kill at 14-15 secured the match for Olympia.

The Railers were led in serving by junior service expert Christina Xamis and by Missy Aper and Darcy White. On the Railer side of the net, Kelli Gleason did her usual excellent job of setting, and Tina Cook and Darcy White were unstoppable at the net. Kari McFadden have several nice soft touches for points as well as the night’s most unusual play, when her "pass" from the backcourt went over the net and fell to the court, untouched by Olympia, for a Railer point.

The large crowd in attendance last night witnessed two of the premier teams in the area going head to head. Regardless of the winner, both teams played competitive volleyball and showed why their programs are the envy of many in central Illinois. Both teams have talent, depth and work hard on the court.

It seemed to me that the slight difference that caused Oly to go home with the victory and Lincoln to suffer the loss was sheer will. Oly was not about to lose. They expected they would win…and they did. The Railers played well but were unable to finish. I’m sure the loss will prove useful to the Lady Railers as they continue conference play and enter the postseason state tournament, where willing to win and refusing to lose will be crucial.

The junior varsity squad also went down to defeat in a hard-fought, three-set match by scores of 14-16, 15-7, 11-15.

The Lady Railers finish out the week with two conference matches. The Lady Railers travel to Glenwood tonight and return home on Thursday to face Sacred Heart Griffin.

GO, RAILERS!

[Rick Hobler]

[SEPT. 24, 2001]  For two weeks or more, many people were pointing to this game to see if this year’s Illini squad was for real or not. And most of the 43,232 patrons, including several Logan County residents at the game Saturday, came away pleased with what they saw. They saw a suspect defense hold an explosive Cardinal offensive attack that was averaging 37-plus points per game to only one touchdown and a field goal for the day!

Louisville’s outstanding receiving corps gobbled up a lot of yardage but couldn’t find the end zone. Had you asked the crew in the press box early in the proceedings how many TD receptions they guessed the Cards would finish the game with, I doubt that many would have said one. I know this LDN reporter wouldn’t have!

The fans also saw the vaunted Illinois aerial attack, although it was sporadic for most of the game. In fact, both teams showed the effects of playing with heavy hearts and a loss of timing that came from having so many days off.

J.J. Tubbs hit an early 29-yard field goal to put the Illini on top 3-0, but by the end of the period, highly touted Louisville QB Dave Regone had completed a 3-yard TD pass to Ronnie Ghent. Nathan Smith added the PAT, and just like that it was 7-3 Cardinals with 2:40 left in the first. And as easy as they made it look, it appeared it might be a long day for Illinois.

Luckily those fears were never fully realized. As a matter of fact, Illinois struck back within 20 seconds. This is NOT a typo. The Illini actually had a three-play, 80-yard drive that was capped by a 9-yard strike from Kurt Kittner to Carey Davis. That play put the good guys back on top 10-7. Then it was time for our new favorite player, Christian Morton — actually he was one of our favorites last season — to get into the act. All he did was intercept a pass and take it to the house, which was 33 yards away. That put Illinois ahead 17-7. Smith had a career-longest 43-yard field goal to finish the first-half scoring at 17-10 Illinois.

Both teams appeared to be sluggish at times and out of sync, and you really couldn’t have guessed what was going to happen in the second half. After an inspiring halftime show, the Illini came out and underwhelmed the fans for a couple of possessions before Kittner hooked up with another of our favorite players, Walter Young, on a 38-yard heave that made it 24-10. Illinois surged and was never really headed after that.

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However, our LDN crew is still concerned about whether the defense is Big Ten tough yet. We say to keep putting pressure on our opponents. In the first half the Illini were going with several nickel-and-dime packages that were pretty successful. But in the second half the Orange and Blue picked up the pressure on the QB so much so that Regone was held to six completions for 64 yards! If we continue to blitz, mix up our coverages and continue to improve against the run, we have a chance to be competitive in our always-rough conference.

Antoineo Harris highlighted a stellar offensive day with a short TD jaunt to go along with his 102 yards from scrimmage on 22 carries. Former CS8 player Peter Christofilakos added five points with a field goal and two PATs. Kittner finished the day 18-of-39 for 301 yards and two touchdowns to go along with two INTs. In all fairness to Kurt, it appeared that both of those passes could have been caught for offensive receptions.

The Illini had 504 total yards to Louisville’s 338. The Illinois defense held the Cardinals to 29 yards rushing for the game! We wager to say if we do that during Big Ten play, a wild ride may be in store.

Speaking of wild rides, the Illini hit the road next week to play in the Big House against the infamous blue. A win there and the Illini could well be on their way back to a bowl game…

•  With the win, Illinois has now won 10 non-conference games in a row for the first time since a 15-game winning streak from 1910-16.

•  The win over No. 25 Louisville is Illinois’ first over a ranked team since they picked Ohio State apart 46-20 in 1999.

•  The Illini are now tied with Louisville and Oklahoma in forced turnovers. All three teams have collected 12 turnovers each.

•  Illinois is now leading the turnover battle against their opponents 12-2.

[Jeff Mayfield]

[SEPT. 21, 2001]  Mount Pulaski defeated Hartsburg-Emden 15-6, 15-6 at Hartsburg. Olympia defeated Pontiac 15-13, 15-7 at Pontiac.

[SEPT. 20, 2001]  Justin Cronin recorded his second-straight shutout and his third of the season as Lincoln College handed Parkland College a 3-0 setback in men’s soccer at Lincoln College on Wednesday afternoon.

Leading the Lynx offensively was Steve Gorton with a pair of goals and an assist.   Gorton scored the first goal on an assist from Jesus Cruz in the eighth minute of the game. His second goal came at the 35-minute mark with an assist from Chris Luther.    The final Lincoln goal was scored by Cliff Scattergood, in the 90th minute, on an assist from Gorton.

"We dominated the game with 35 shots on goal, and if it had not been for their goalie (Darin Fearday), it would have been a 7-0 game. He had four or five terrific saves. He was the best goalie we have faced this season," said coach Mark Howard. "It was really the Steve Gorton show. He had an outstanding game. Defensively, we made a couple of mistakes, but someone was always there to make up for the miscue."

Lincoln College will take a 4-2 record into its next game, which is at home against Bethany Lutheran at 1 p.m. Saturday. 

[Bill Martinie,
Lincoln College sports information director]

[SEPT. 20, 2001]  Michelle Rutherford and Carrie Hoffert both shot their best rounds of golf this season to lead the Lincoln College women’s golf team to a third-place finish in the MacMurray tournament in Jacksonville on Wednesday afternoon.

Lincoln College had a team score of 421, finishing behind Monmouth and McKendree.  Monmouth posted a score of 368 and McKendree had a 416. The Lady Lynx finished ahead of MacMurray and Illinois College in the five-team field.

Rutherford had a 46-47-93 round for coach Kirk Whiteman, while Hoffert, a Lincoln High School grad, had a round of 46-48-94. Completing the Lynx team were Gina Billy with a 53-63-116 and Dori Booth with a 51-67-118.

Coach Whiteman stated, "Carrie and Michelle had their best rounds of the year, and I feel our girls are headed in the right direction."

[Bill Martinie,
Lincoln College sports information director]

[SEPT. 20, 2001]  Lincoln College regained its winning ways with a hard-fought five-match win over Lewis & Clark in volleyball at Lincoln Wednesday evening.  The victory evens the Lady Lynx record at 6-6.

Lincoln got out of the chute early and won the first match 30-28. The Lynx then lost the next two matches by identical scores of 27-30.  Lincoln rebounded to win the fourth match 30-23 and then won the deciding match by a 15-11 margin.

"We played with a lot of emotion early and then kind of lost it," said coach Mark Tippett. "In the fourth game, about midway, we regained that fire and never lost it the rest of the match, and it carried over into the final match.  The two teams were very evenly matched; we just wanted it a little bit more. I was real pleased with the way we responded and came back after losing Tuesday night."

Beth Guy continued to play well for the Lynx, recording 46 set assists, eight points and three aces.  Molly Owen had a huge night at the net with 27 kills and five blocks, while Erica Miller had 24 points, 13 kills and seven digs. Sarah McLaughlin contributed 10 points, four digs and three aces, including the game winner in the fifth match.

Lincoln College plays at Shawnee on Saturday in a quadrangular match.

[Bill Martinie,
Lincoln College sports information director]

[SEPT. 19, 2001]  The Taylorville Tornadoes blew into town last night intent on doing some serious damage to the Lady Railers’ volleyball record. The storm took only 45 minutes to pass and never touched ground. No damage was reported.

In its CS8 Conference home opener, the Lady Railers took control from the start and never let up. Behind the exceptional serving of Kelli Gleason and Missy Aper and with focused team play by everyone, the Lady Railers crushed the Tornadoes 15-1, 15-4. The Railers’ record now stands at an incredible 16-3-1 overall and 1-0 in conference play. Taylorville’s record falls to 5-7.

The only time the Railers didn’t score in Game 1 was when they hit the ball too long. Taylorville was able to score only once on the Railers, when the scoreboard showed 3-1. After that, the Railers notched 12 successive unanswered points to win the game.

From the service line it was truly a "senior moment." First, there was no stopping senior Kelli Gleason. Kelli accounted for an incredible 12 service points, including two aces and a nine-point run to end the game. The remaining three Railer scores came on serves by seniors Darcy White and Christina Xamis. The offensive and defensive net play of Cook, McFadden times two, White and Conrady made sure that when the ball hit the floor it was on the Taylorville side.

In Game 2 the Railers used their entire team to once again completely shut down the Tornadoes. Coach Howe rotated through the Railer bench throughout the game. The always energetic and smiling Missy Aper ran off five service points for the Lady Railers, and Kelli Gleason added three more to her night’s total. Kills, dinks and blocks across the entire Railer front line quickly brought home the match victory. Tina Cook had some beautiful touch shots in addition to her usual lethal left-hand kills. Christina Xamis displayed excellent passing and defensive skills throughout the game and made the final kill of the game to wrap up the victory. Taylorville also had no solution for the hitting and blocking of Darcy White, Michelle McFadden, Kari McFadden and Samantha Conrady.

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Taylorville managed a total of only four points, and that was only after the game and the match were no longer in question.

The Lady Railers seemed more focused and ready to finish last night than I had seen before. They didn’t suffer any midgame letdown. When they had Taylorville backed against the wall, they finished the matter. The Tornadoes were little more than a passing breeze last night. Tornado watch canceled.

The junior varsity continued to play well, as they also defeated Taylorville in a two-game match.

The Lady Railers travel to Rantoul on Thursday and return home for what is sure to be a hotly contested match against Olympia next Monday, Sept. 24. After last year’s match against Olympia, (those who were there haven’t forgotten) I challenge anyone with even an ounce of school spirit to be at Monday’s match. You won’t want to miss it! GO, RAILERS!!

[Rick Hobler]

[SEPT. 19, 2001]  Lincoln Christian College defeated Lincoln College in three games at the Lincoln College gym Tuesday night. LCC won by scores of 30-28, 30-13, 30-26.

The loss drops the Lynx record to 5-6 on the season.  Lincoln College is at home again Wednesday against Lewis & Clark.

Beth Guy had another outstanding night for the Lady Lynx with 15 points and 25 set assists.  Erica Miller had four kills and nine digs, while Molly Owens had eight kills and two blocks.  Janine Buettner contributed five kills, three digs and three blocks.

[Bill Martinie, Lincoln College sports information director]

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