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Seniors Natalie Boward, left, and Katie Conklen
The good news is that the Lady Railers will have another quality
team to look forward to next year.
The bad news, of course, is that these two particular seniors are
not going to be here for that "next year." On the other hand -- they
were a big part of this year's season and the success it has
produced. That regular season ended last night with an overall
record of 23-10-2 and a Central State Eight Conference record of
6-1. The CS8 record was good enough to place them in a three-way tie
for first place with SHG and Chatham Glenwood.
At Jacksonville on Thursday night, SHG took three games to defeat
Jacksonville, to clinch their share of the conference title. The
three-way tie was produced when Lincoln beat Chatham, SHG beat
Lincoln, and Chatham beat SHG, giving each team only one conference
loss.
Before Thursday night's match, LCHS honored its seniors: Natalie
Boward and Katie Conklen. The super seniors returned the favor as
they helped their team defeat a pesky team from Springfield High
School by a three-game match score of 25-10, 21-25, 25-19.
The worst thing that happened to the Railers last night was how
easily they won the first game. Riding on the power of some
superb serving by its two seniors, Lincoln sailed to an easy win by
a score of 25-10. Natalie Boward had seven service points, including
an ace, in game one. Not to be outdone, Katie Conklen also stepped
to the service line seven times, had seven points, two aces and the
game's final point. Fourteen senior service points and a host of
Springfield errors were more than enough to put an end to the
Senators in game one. The crowd and the team relaxed; it was going
to be a smooth-sailing senior night. Or so we thought. Then came
game two.
Game two was a game of ties throughout. Nine tie scores were
registered between 1-1 and 15-15. Neither team was able to put any
distance between it and the other. The Senators seemed to want to.
The Railers, invincible in the first game, just seemed unable to.
At 15-15 the Railers began to shoot themselves in the foot with
their own play. Defensive breakdowns on the back row and two missed
hit kills from the net put the Railers down 15-20. Springfield and
Lincoln managed to get three points each, but at this point playing
wasn't good enough for the Railers to win. Natalie Boward tried to
get the Railers over the hump with two kills and a block, but
Springfield eked out the victory on two Railer miscues. Springfield
25, Lincoln 21. The cardiac kids strike again.
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No one in the stands wanted to believe that the Railers would allow
Springfield High to deny it a share of the Central State Eight
championship. As game three began, it appeared Natalie Boward was
going to make sure of it. With the help of some consistent serving
by Chrissy Schonauer, Boward was everywhere else. Boward tipped the
ball here, blocked the ball there and slammed the ball everywhere.
As a result Lincoln was up 8-1. Then deja vu struck the Senators as
the two senior Railers once again rotated around to the service
line. Conklen served three for point numbers 14, 15 and 16. Boward
served four more for points 20, 21, 22 and 23. Jamie McFadden did
most of the rest. Four McFadden kills, including one so hard that it
rearranged the facial makeup of one of the Senators, brought the
match to an end and the championship home. Congratulations to
these two fine senior volleyball players. Thank you for the memories
you're leaving with us. Congratulations to the Lady Railers for
bringing another conference volleyball championship to LCHS!
So, what's next? Thanks to the IHSA and its postseason pairings
(who can figure out these things), the Railers get two more games at
home. The Lincoln Regional starts Wednesday at LCHS with Lincoln,
seeded No. 3, playing in the early match at 6:30 against No. 18
Decatur Eisenhower. The other regional semifinal on Wednesday will
match eighth-seeded Decatur MacArthur against the 17th seed from
Rantoul. The winners of the Wednesday night matches will pair off
for the regional championship on Oct. 28 at 7 p.m. at Roy S.
Anderson gymnasium.
GO, RAILERS!
Junior varsity ends with a victory
The LCHS junior varsity ended its season Thursday night with a
6-1 record against Central State Eight teams and a 17-10 record
overall by defeating SHS in a match that also went three games. The
Lady Railers prevailed by a match score of 25-21, 21-25, 25-16. The
all-around team effort allowed the Railers to finish the CS8
schedule having lost only to Chatham. Since attempts to get other
junior varsity records from conference teams were unsuccessful, as
of Friday morning, I will have to assume the junior Lady Railers
were either first or second in conference play.
Nice job, ladies. Congratulations on a fine season of great
volleyball!
[Rick
Hobler]
Respond to the writer at
rhobler@lccs.edu.
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