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Thankfully, the Lady Railers granted my
wish.
In a varsity match that lasted only
about 26 minutes LCHS easily disposed of the Lions from Lanphier
High School. The match score was 25-10, 25-13, with most of
Lanphier's points being unearned.
And it was a good thing that
Lanphier had little to offer because the Railers didn't seem to have
Lanphier on their minds. Instead, the Railers seemed to have only
"Thursdays" on their minds. The main topic of volleyball
conversation at LCHS last night was about matches in the past or in
the future. Specifically the SHG loss last Thursday and the Normal
Community match this Thursday. But more about that in a minute.
First things first.
For a few minutes in game one, it
looked liked Lincoln's star server, Maria Benitez, might "run the
table" on the Lions. From a score of 0-0 to 9-0, the Lions barely
touched Maria's well-placed serves. And that was only the beginning.
For the night, Maria had 15 service points, including four aces.
During that same service spree, Megan Hoffert and Michi McFadden led
the charge at the net. The Railers were quickly up 19-3 after a
couple of nice kills by another McFadden sister. This time freshman
Jamie McFadden did the damage for the Railers (I have asked the
McFadden parents to keep having more children, but they have
respectfully declined). Melissa Ramlow and Robin Conklen did a nice
job of setting for the varsity in game one. After a couple of
finishing "touches" by Erin Frick and Julie Fults, the Railers moved
to the other side of the net for game two.
Game two was no different from game
one, except for some names added to the contribution list. The
Railers, led by the fine serving of Michelle Fitzpatrick throughout
(seven service points for the match), put the Railers up easily and
they never looked back. Some uncharacteristic mistakes allowed
Lanphier to garner 14 total points, but the end of this story was
never in question. The Railers again pulled out an array of
offensive weapons, including both McFadden sisters, Megan Hoffert,
Erin Frick and Julie Fults. Thirteen short minutes later the net was
being taken down and the gym was emptying out.
With that "little detail" out of the
way, what was really on the team's mind began to flow again. Normal
Community. Thursday night. Our house. The team and the fans were
making sure no one would forget. Not likely.
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But there is some forgetting that
does need to be done immediately and, on the other hand, some
remembering that needs to be done.
First the forgetting. That would be
last Thursday at SHG. The Lady Railers need to forget it. All but
that one part about how badly it hurt to lose. The only way that
last week's loss can hurt the Railers anymore is if they let it.
They shouldn't. Let's remember the facts here for a moment. The
Railers are 22-4 overall, are 3-1 in conference play, have won two
difficult major tournaments and placed second in another, are the
No. 1 seed in their postseason sectional complex, and potentially
have one of the best volleyball teams ever at LCHS. Need I go on,
ladies? Forget about last Thursday or it will ruin this Thursday. I
am confident they won't let that happen.
In the category of things for the
Lady Railers NOT to forget and to definitely remember are the times
that Normal Community has sought not just to beat them, but to
humiliate them. Even at my advanced age and with my shortened
memory, I haven't forgotten the times that Normal Community has
acted "superior' to the Railer program. I am also confident that the
Lady Railer seniors haven't forgotten that Normal "attitude" thing.
It's time to turn it up a notch.
I know it's only Wednesday, but I've
got Thursday on my mind. GO, RAILERS!
* * *
LCHS
junior varsity and freshmen continue to win
In matches that appeared to be going
in slow motion sometimes, both the Railer junior varsity and
freshman teams nevertheless pulled out wins over the squads from
Springfield Lanphier last night. The JV won by scores of 25-14,
25-8, while the freshmen pulled off wins at 25-16, 25-18. Katie Conklen, Ashley Bonaparte and Kate Schonauer had excellent matches
for the junior varsity. In the freshman match, Abbie Feldman, Cori
Wendell and Carrie Jones all made significant contributions to the
victory. Both the JV and the freshman squads also face off with
Normal Community, beginning with the freshman match at 4:45 p.m.
Thursday.
[Rick
Hobler]
Respond to the writer at
rhobler@lccs.edu.
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