LC Men's Volleyball 5th at NCVF Nationals

[April 19, 2017]   Last week the Lincoln College Men's Volleyball team competed in the three-day National Collegiate Volleyball Federation (NCVF) National Championship Tournament in Kansas City, Missouri. The Lynx entered the event ranked #24 out of 48 teams competing at the Division II level. LC went 6-2 at the event and finished with a share of 5th place overall.

On Thursday, the Lynx began pool play with wins over (#48) Fairfield University 26-24, 26-28, 15-8, and (#25) Grove City University 25-11, 25-20. For their final match in pool play, LC faced off with the overall top seed in the tournament and defending National Champions, (#1) Messiah College of Pennsylvania. Messiah served extremely well in the opening set and was able to lead all the way for a 25-19 win. In set two, Lincoln raised their level of play and was able to better handle Messiah's jump servers. The team's ability to side out effectively kept the score close. Eventually, a strong run of blocking and team defense sparked a late charge by LC that led to a 26-24 win. In the deciding set to 15, the Lynx continued to hang with previously undefeated Messiah, and held a slim 14-13 lead, but was unable to win their match point opportunity and eventually fell to Messiah 18-16.

Lincoln returned to play on Friday to win a morning challenge round match against St. Olaf College 25-18, 25-21. This win placed Lincoln into a three-team pool that included (#9) Loyola Marymaount and (#17) the US Army Academy from West Point. LC first faced Army and dropped set one 22-25, but bounced back to win set two 25-21 and kept the momentum going to take set three 15-10. Against Loyola Marymount, Lincoln had to go fight off several set point opportunities to win set one 33-31 and was able to hold on for a 25-23 win in set two to end the match and win their pool.

The first place finish in their pool on Friday put Lincoln into the 16-team Gold Division for single-elimination play on Saturday. Lincoln's opening round opponent was Azusa Pacific University of California. LC and APU traded side-outs in the early going, but a strong effort from Lincoln's front row blockers began to turn the tide in LC's favor. A late kill and two quick service points from LC outside hitter Corey Poindexter, helped Lincoln take set one 25-22. In set two, Lincoln's confidence showed as they cruised to a 25-16 win to end the match. The win moved LC on to the quarter-finals and a rematch with Messiah College. In that match, Messiah came out firing with strong jump serves that disrupted Lincoln's offense and kept the Lynx from getting any positive momentum going. Messiah would go on to win the match 25-9, 25-17 to end Lincoln's run at Nationals. Messiah would go on to a second place finish after losing in the tournament final to St. Louis University in three close sets. The Lynx end their season with a record of 32-20. LC right-side hitter Charles Carter was received All-Tournament Team Honorable Mention honors.

LC Coach Mark Tippett:   I could not be more proud of the way our players performed at Nationals and how well they represented Lincoln College. The pool play match we played against Messiah was one of the most exciting matches of the whole event. We surprised a lot of people by competing with them, and it was exciting to see the crowd around our court grow as the match went on. Afterward, it was fun to learn how many people from other teams were rooting for us to pull off the upset and many of them congratulated our players on how well they played.

I was equally impressed with our wins on Friday. According to our seeding, we were not supposed to win our pool against Army and Loyola. However, our players just would not be denied that day and put out an outstanding effort to beat two very strong teams. We played well in all aspects of the game, but our blocking was the key to our ability to stay competitive against two teams that could really hit the ball well.

It was great to get a win and advance in the Gold bracket on Saturday. Had we go out in the first round, I think we would have left a little disappointed, but to be the lowest seeded team to advance to the quarter final of this tournament is an amazing accomplishment and something I am sure our guys will remember for a long time to come. We are already looking forward to next year's event which will be even closer to home for us in St. Louis.

Team photo:  L to R Standing - Will Moore, Tony Silva, Corey Poindexter, Kyle Murphy, Greg Scott, Jake Fleming, Charles Carter, Michael Wesley, Deantrius Coleman.   Seated/kneeling - Mike Konczal, Bryan Orellana, Dylan Russin

Setter Bryan Orellana reacting to an LC point vs Messiah

Outside hitter Kyle Murphy passing

Right side hitter Charles Carter hitting

[Mark Tippett]