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 The championship win had to be the sweetest one, especially since
Mount Pulaski defeated Lincoln in two games earlier this season at
the Fall Festival Tournament. Lincoln Head Coach, Dawn Crawford
agreed, "It was sweet. We got beat the first time against them and
this was revenge time. I told them get out there and redeem
yourselves. We are a good team and I told them you need to play like
that. You need to build your confidence and go after them. We didn't
let them dominate us and we took care of business."
Senior Kaylyn Hoffert, who led the Lady Railers with 8 kills, 5 digs
and 2 blocks, was also excited after the game. "They did beat us the
last time we faced them. It felt awesome to beat Mount Pulaski
'cause it's Mount Pulaski." Hoffert said that Coach Crawford had a
plan for facing Mount Pulaski. "We needed to focus and start out
strong from the beginning. Usually we end up in a hole and dig
ourselves out."
In the championship match, the Lady Railers were solid all the way
around with strong performances by not only Hoffert, but also
seniors Hannah Cameron and Brook Soebbing. Cameron had 6 kills and 7
digs while Soebbing had 10 service points, 3 kills, 3 digs and 2
blocks before going down with an ankle injury late in the second
game.
It was obvious Soebbing was in a lot of pain as she was helped off
the court and Crawford was pretty sure the news was not going to be
good. "Broken. It looks horrible. It's huge. She's done. She's in a
ton of pain." Crawford continued, "Unless there's a miracle that
Missy (trainer Missy Anderson) can work for us I don't think we can
count on Brook next week. Unfortunately. She's a big part of our
offense. But we have a few more girls who can take care of
business."
And speaking of taking care of business, the Lady Railers did just
that the entire day Saturday as they went 5-0 against the
competition. Before they were able to hoist the championship trophy
in the air, they defeated Mount Zion 25-23, 15-25 and 25-19 and
Illini Central 25-13 and 25-17. Then it was a nail-biter versus
Shelbyville 25-21, 18-25 and 25-23. Finally, they earned every point
in the close victory with volleyball powerhouse Stewardson-Strasburg
26-24 and 25-21.
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This set the stage for the rematch with Mount Pulaski which again
had every fan on the edge of their seat as Lincoln prevailed 25-23
and 25-23. Next the Lady Railers are eyeing a season record in wins
as their current record improves to 27-8 on the season. They head
into the Regional's next week a No. 1 seed.
Lincoln hosts the Regional that features Clinton, Stanford-Olympia,
Metamora and Morton. Lincoln received a bye the first round and will
play at 6 p.m. Tuesday night versus the winner of the
Clinton/Stanford-Olympia match.
The championship match will be Thursday night at 6 p.m. in Lincoln.
Total stats for Lincoln Saturday in the five matches:
Kaylyn Hoffert 53 kills
Hannah Cameron 30 kills
Brook Soebbing 21 kills
Josalyn Owens 8 kills
Brooklyn Elsas 8 kills
Emma O'Donoghue 62 assists
Morgan Lolling 55 assists
Julia Huynh 45 digs
Lauren Block 3 kills
[Teena Lowery]
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