 Motion made by Ashley Meyrick to adjourn the Springfield High School
Senators' appearance at the LCHS gymnasium. Motion seconded by Jamie
McFadden. Motion carried by the rest of the team. Game adjourned.
After a particularly tiring and frustrating weekend tournament at
St. Francis Borgia High School in Washington, Mo., the Lincoln Lady
Railers returned to the friendly confines of Roy S. Anderson
Gymnasium Tuesday night to play conference foe Springfield High
School. Last night's match and its results were much less
frustrating.
The Lady Railers had little trouble keeping their Central State
Eight Conference record clean at 2-0 with their 25-17, 25-9 win over
the Senators. The Railers improved to 2-0 in the conference and
remain at the top of the very early season standings with a couple
of volleyball teams to the south of Lincoln.
Most of the points on the Senators' side of the scoreboard all
night were courtesy of the Lady Railers trying to win every point by
force instead of letting SHS lose a few here and there. But the
Railer miss-hits were of little consequence to the final outcome.
In both games the Lady Railers owned the area from the 10-foot
line to the net. Most of the Springfield hits made it no farther
than the top of the net, where Ashley Meyrick (I may call her "Myrk"
sometimes) was waiting to stuff it back to the floor on the SHS
side. What Myrk wasn't blocking off the net or hitting to the floor,
Jamie McFadden, Abbie Feldman and Hilary Hobler were hitting at SHS
over the net for kills. When SHS tried to tip over or around Meyrick,
Hobler was waiting and digging it out off the floor near the net for
another Railer opportunity.
At the service line, Ashley Bonaparte, Samantha Lowman and Molly
Goodrich spread the ball around the court for several unreturnable
or barely returnable balls. Sam Lowman also did her usual nice job
patrolling the back row for alien volleyballs trying to illegally
immigrate to the Railer side of the floor.
The Railers were never seriously challenged in any aspect or in
either game. It was a much-needed easier match for the Lady Railers
after some recently tense encounters of the close kind.
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Statistically, McFadden had 15 kills, followed by Meyrick with
seven. Meyrick added six huge blocks. Bonaparte served up 12 Railer
points, with Lowman and Goodrich tossing in eight and seven more,
respectively.
Having sent the Senators packing, LCHS can mark its calendar for
the tougher part of the conference schedule that lies on the near
horizon. The usual foes stand in the way: SHG, Chatham, Jacksonville
and the rest.
The season finale at home against Chatham on Oct. 16 (the date is
already circled on my calendar) will be a great battle no matter
where either team stands on the conference ladder. It will mean
something in the CS8 race, if and only if, the Railers step up and
win the rest of their CS8 matches in between. Lincoln can't overlook
anyone in the CS8, since they seem to have a target on their back
wherever they go. We will soon see if the Lady Railers are up to the
challenge. Soon will be next Tuesday.
The Railers travel to Urbana on Thursday night.
They continue on the road and return to conference play Tuesday
with a tough match against the six SHG Blazers and the two referees
who are usually players No. 7 and 8 for SHG in their own gym. (I
will presume that this comment means that I won't get my
sportsmanship award for the 2007 season! Oh, well). In their pursuit
of a conference championship, Tuesday should go a long way in
letting them know where they stand. If you are a Lady Railer
volleyball fan, you won't want to miss it. GO, RAILERS!!
[Rick
L. Hobler]
Respond to the writer at
rhobler@lccs.edu.
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