LC Men's Volleyball:  Lincoln Takes 3rd at Davenport Invite

[March 28, 2017]  The Lincoln College Men's Volleyball "A" team went 4-1 at the Davenport University Invitational Tournament over the weekend. The Lynx claimed third place at the twelve-team event which featured a number of nationally ranked participants. During pool play, Lincoln, ranked #20 in the latest National Club Volleyball Federation (NCVF) poll, was a perfect 3-0. The Lynx defeated Michigan State (25-9, 25-11), Ferris State (25-10, 25-8), and (#16) Grove City College (25-19, 25-21). The Lynx then faced Central Michigan University in the first round of single elimination play. LC easily moved past CMU 25-13, 25-14 to advance to a semifinal match-up against the host school, (#6) Davenport. In that match, DU grabbed the early momentum and Lincoln was never able to recover on their way to an 18-25, 17-25 defeat. Davenport would go on to a second place finish after losing in two sets to the #2 ranked team in the nation from St. Louis University.

Jake Fleming

Lincoln's offensive leaders on the day included sophomore Kyle Murphy (31 kills), sophomore Deantrius Coleman (22 kills, 10 blocks) and freshman Jake Fleming (24 kills, 8 blocks). Fleming, a setter/right side hitter from Richards High School in Oak Lawn, IL, was named to the All-Tournament team.

Lincoln College Men's Volleyball 'A' Team

The Lincoln College "B" team competed in the same event and went 1-2 during pool play, earning a victory over Grand View University (25-18, 25-20), but dropping matches to Central Michigan (26-24, 18-25, 11-15) and (#2) St. Louis University (14-25, 12-25). The Lynx made an early exit in Silver Division play after losing a rematch with Grand View 21-25, 20-25.

On Friday evening, Lincoln (21-15) played a best-three-of-five match against Davenport. DU came out on top of that one in four sets (25-21, 14-25, 25-13, 25-20). Lincoln was led in service points by freshman libero Dylan Russin from Blue Island with 12 points scored and four aces. Kyle Murphy led the team in kills with nine and Bryan Orellana had 13 set assists.

Lincoln will be at home on Tuesday evening for a 7:00 PM match against Lindenwood-Belleville (NAIA). The match will feature the return of 2016 LC grad and men's volleyball standout Alec Esparza.