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 The Lady Lynx began play on Friday with a five-set win over
Southeastern Iowa CC. LC took the opening set 25-19, but SCC bounced
back to win set two 25-23.
Lincoln dominated set three 25-9 in part due to the strong middle
play of freshman Elysa Smith who racked up four kills and two blocks
in the set and setter Abbi Buelow who recorded 12 of the 42 set
assists she would dish out in the match.
Elysa Smith
The Lady Lynx carried the momentum into set four and were in control
early on until freshman middle hitter Cassidy Sanneman left the game
with an ankle injury. Lincoln had to play players out of position to
account for the loss of Sanneman and Southeastern took advantage of
the situation to win set four 25-22. This set up a deciding set to
15.
With right side hitter Mattie Giese filling in at middle for the
injured Sanneman, Lincoln regrouped and led the entire way for a
15-10 win to end the match.
Kaylyn Hoffert
In the second match for Lincoln on Friday, the team faced Frontier
CC from Fairfield, IL. Lincoln was energized by the return of
Cassidy Sanneman to the lineup and cruised to an easy three set
victory 25-11, 25-21, 25-10. Matie Geise and Kaylyn Hoffert were
extremely effective hitting at the pins for Lincoln. Giese led the
team with nine kills in the match while Hoffert tallied seven kills.
Senior DS Erin Rankin led the team in service points with 14.
Mikayla Siebert
On Saturday, Lincoln would face Highland CC first then College of
DuPage (COD). Lincoln came out strong against Highland and took set
one 25-12. The Lady Lynx played a nearly perfect first set that saw
freshman setter Abbi Buelow connect with multiple hitters including
seven kills from freshman outside hitter Mikayla Siebert. Siebert,
who was filling in for the injured Kenzie Cooper, finished the match
with a team-high ten kills and a block.
Melanie Murray
(right) Set two also went to LC by a score
of 25-20. Highland showed more life in set two, but three blocks
from middle hitter Cassidy Sanneman and seven digs from libero
Melanie Murray were enough to keep Highland from gaining any
momentum. Murray would finish with a team-high 19 digs in the match.
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Highland was able to score early and often in set three to put
Lincoln in the hole 2-7, and aggressive serving by HCC kept the Lady
Lynx from being able to mount a comeback. Highland would win the set
25-20 to extend the match.
In set four, LC regrouped and regained control of
their passing game to lead all the way to a 25-18 victory. Sophomore
DS Brighton Robbins scored five service points in the set to help
her team stay on top.
The final match of the event for Lincoln was against the College of
DuPage. COD had won all three of their previous matches on the
weekend, so the outcome would determine the winner of the event.
Lincoln took command early in set one by jumping out to a
comfortable eight-point lead. Freshman Kaylyn Hoffert was dynamite
behind the service line scoring six of her team-high eleven service
points in the set, three on aces. LC would cruise to a 25-14 set
win.
Set two was again controlled by Lincoln as the team led all the way
to a 25-18 win.
COD was not done though, as they came out strong in set three.
DuPage hit the ball extremely well and played enough defense to
frustrate Lincoln's hitters and extend rallies. Lincoln would suffer
it's worse set loss of the weekend to COD, 25-15.
Set four appeared to be more of the same as DuPage built a 15-10
advantage. That was when Lincoln began to turn things around. After
a side out on a kill by Mattie Giese, sophomore middle hitter
Cassidy Sanneman went behind the service line and ran off five
points in a row, two on aces, to put LC up 16-15. After the run, two
spectacular back row kills from senior DS Erin Rankin would continue
to help LC regain their confidence and hold on to win the set 25-22.
The four wins on the weekend pushed Lincoln's overall record to
21-11. The 21 wins equal the team's win total from 2015 with two
matches left to play in the regular season.
Lincoln will travel to Carl Sandburg Wednesday evening then on
Thursday host their final home match of the year at 6:00 p.m.
against Illinois Valley CC.
Stat Totals
Kaylyn Hoffert 37 kills, 23 points
Abbi Buelow 17 points, 132 set assists
Erin Rankin 48 points, 33 digs
Mattie Giese 36 kills, 8 blocks
Mikayla Siebert 29 kills, 4 blocks
Melanie Murray 53 digs, 33 points
Cassidy Sanneman 18 kills, 10 blocks, 19 points
Elysa Smith 22 kills, 9 blocks
Brighton Robbins 25 digs, 16 points
Erica King 13 digs
LC Coach Mark Tippett: "I was extremely proud of the effort our
players put out this weekend. Not having Kenzie Cooper on the floor
is a big loss for us since she typically plays all the way around
and passes in most serve receive rotations. Mikayla Siebert and
Brighton Robbins did an excellent job filling in for her, and our
other hitters helped pick up the slack on offense as well.
"We look forward to getting Kenzie back later this week, but it's
comforting to know we can adjust to keep our team competitive if we
have to. The key to our success this weekend was consistently
passing the ball to target. Our setter, Abbi Buelow, did a wonderful
job of finding open hitters and spreading the ball around enough to
keep our opponents off balance.
"We played some of our best volleyball of the year at this event
which is a great way to go into the final week of the regular
season."
Photos courtesy of Mark Gordon
[Coach Mark Tippett] |
