Lynx Women’s Volleyball sweeps final match of the season to finish 23-11

[October 28, 2017] 

The Lincoln College Volleyball team ended the 2017 regular season on Thursday evening with a three-set victory over the visiting Millikin University JV team. The Lady Lynx won their final six matches of the season and will begin post-season play next week with an impressive 23-11 win/loss record.

Six graduating players were honored prior to the start of the match. Among them were five sophomores (Abbi Buelow, Cassidy Sanneman, Jenna Weller, Makalya Suelter, and Mikayla Seibert) and one senior (Erica King).

In set one, LC took advantage of several MU hitting and serving errors to open up a seven point lead at 10-3. Later in the set, Lincoln would falter on serve receive and allowed Millikin to climb back in it. MU was able to close the gap to just one point at 23-22. The Lady Lynx would avoid disaster though as sophomore Mikayla Seibert (Mackinaw) earned a side out on a well-placed tip to move her team to set point. Freshman Maddie Malinowski then followed up with an ace serve to end the threat and give LC a 25-22 set one win.

Set two saw Lincoln again jump out to an early lead using efficient passing and a strong block to go up 7-0. This time LC did not let up as they cruised to an easy victory. The highlight of the set came with LC up 13-6. After the serve, long rally ensued which featured a fantastic play from right side Mattie Giese (Highland Park). Giese went into the Lincoln bench to save a ball which setter Abbi Buelow (Rockford) then hustled off the court to retrieve and send over the net from well beyond the LC serving line. Millikin would then commit a hitting error on their next attempt to give LC the point and keep the momentum squarely on the Lady Lynx side. LC would win the set 25-12.

Lincoln looked to close out the match in set three, but this time Millikin was able to put together a much better effort. The Big Blue maintained a three-point lead for much of the set; however, the Lady Lynx managed to work their way back to tie the set at 20-20. At that point a Millikin service error sent Abbi Buelow behind the service line where she served three points in a row to give LC their first match point opportunity. Millikin was able to manage a side out on the next play to extend the set then added two quick points to close the gap to 24-23. After a Lincoln timeout, sophomore Mattie Giese ended the threat with a solo stuff block to give LC a 25-23 set three win.

Setter Abbi Buelow led all servers with eight points scored and was the night’s assist leader with 12. Three Lynx players tied for the lead in kills with six (Kaylyn Hoffert, Mattie Giese, and Elysa Smith).

LC Coach Mark Tippett was pleased with his team’s effort. “I was very happy that we were able to end our regular season with a win at home. Our graduates played hard for our team during their careers here at LC and it’s satisfying to see them play so well in what could be their final home match.”

Lincoln will begin post-season play on Wednesday, November 1st at Southwestern Illinois College (SWIC) in Belleville. A win in that match will advance the team to the Region Final Four which will be held at Lincoln College on Saturday, November 4th.

“I am confident we will give it our best at SWIC this week,” said Tippett. “We did not play well there a couple weeks ago, but I am looking forward to the rematch. We really want to play in the Final Four since we host the event and this will be our last year of NJCAA play.”

[Mark Tippett
Lincoln College
Sports Information]