LC Women's Volleyball Defeats SWIC in Five Sets to Advance to Region Final

[November 03, 2017] 

On Wednesday evening the Lincoln College Women’s Volleyball team traveled to Belleville, IL for a rematch with Southwest Illinois College (SWIC). Two weeks prior, the Lady Lynx made the same trip and came home with a disappointing three-set loss. This time the stakes were much higher as the match at SWIC was the opening round of post-season play for the Region 24 Tournament. LC responded to the challenge with a much better effort that resulted in a thrilling five-set victory.

The tone was set for an intense match in set one as Lincoln and SWIC battled their way to a 23-23 tie score. SWIC would get the next two points to fall their way and take set one 25-23. In set two, Lincoln was able to even the match with a 25-23 win of their own thanks to a late surge of points behind the serve of sophomore setter Jenna Weller (Salt Fork).

Lincoln Coach Mark Tippett saw this win as a turning point in the match. “We had been very frustrated playing SWIC after the last match and dropping set one as closely as we did, so taking set two was a huge confidence boost,” he said.

LC was able to ride the momentum of the set two win to build a four-point lead early in set three. SWIC would close the gap to just two later in the set, but Lincoln was able to side out efficiently enough to hold on for another 25-23 win. The final point of the set was scored on a forceful kill down the line from sophomore outside hitter Kaylyn Hoffert (Lincoln). The kill would be one of 13 Hoffert would collect on the night to lead all hitters.

In set four, Lincoln looked to close out the match, but SWIC had other plans as they jumped out to a five point lead at 8-3 and later extended their advantage to seven points at 20-13. The Lady Lynx did not give up though, and began to chip away at SWIC’s lead behind the consistent float serve of Bloomington Central Catholic grad Maddie Malinowski. The freshman outside hitter ran off seven points in a row to tie the score. Malinowski would finish with a team-high ten points served in the match. Unfortunatley for LC, the comeback would stall there as SWIC managed a side out then went on to take the set 25-21 which forced a deciding set to 15.

In the finale, the Lincoln College front row came up big as they shut down SWIC’s offense early by blocking effectively, and LC hitters aggressively attacked the ball at every opportunity. The Lady Lynx built an 8-5 lead after a four-point run of serves from sophomore setter Abbi Buelow (Rockford). SWIC was then able to side out to cut the lead to 8-6. On the next play, Buelow connected with Hoffert for an eye-popping kill inside the attack line to keep the momentum on Lincoln’s side.

Senior defensive specialist Erica King then entered the game to serve. King would record two digs and score two points to help put her team up 11-6. After a SWIC timeout, Lincoln began to cool off which opened the door to a 7-2 run of points for SWIC to tie the score at 13-13. The two teams then traded side outs up to a 16-16 tie with SWIC serving. On the serve, Maddie Malinowski passed a perfect ball to Abbi Buelow who would again connect with Kaylyn Hoffert for a kill off the block. The side out was quickly followed by a Hoffert ace serve to give LC the win 18-16.

An exhausted Coach Tippett was excited for his players and proud of their effort. “We really battled tonight and played with a lot of heart, said Tippett. “I was impressed with how we handled pressure situations and how we kept playing aggressive volleyball even when the game was on the line. It was nerve wracking for sure, but that’s just what we want out of our players at this time of year.”

Some impressive stat totals were compiled by LC players over the course of the five-set match. Five Lincoln hitter recorded eight or more kills on the night. Hoffert’s 13 kills led the team and four hitters (Elysa Smith, Mikayla Seibert, Maddie Malinowski and Mattie Giese) had eight kills each. Jenna Weller led in assists with 23 and Abbi Buelow had 19. Libero Megan Gilliam (Waterloo) picked up a team-high 23 digs in the match, and Kaylyn Hoffert was second in digs with 16.

Lincoln (24-11) now advances to the Region 24 District J Championship Match on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. The match will be hosted by Lincoln College and LC will face the top seeded team in the Region from Parkland College. Parkland (43-1) comes in as the defending back-to-back NJCAA DII National Champions, and the Cobras are currently ranked #2 in the latest NJCAA DII National Poll.

[Mark Tippett
Lincoln College
Sports Information]