Lynx Women's Volleyball Goes 2-2 at COD

[September 06, 2017] 

The Lincoln College Women’s Volleyball team split their matches at the College of Du Page Invite over the weekend. LC won twice on Friday evening and dropped both matches they played on Saturday.

Lincoln (6-4) started the event off strong with a pair of three set sweeps over Black Hawk College (25-17, 25-10, 25-20) and Rock Valley College (25-22, 25-17, 25-16).

Freshman Maddie Malinowski (Bloomington) led a balanced offensive attack for the Lady Lynx totaling 23 kills in the two matches.

Middle hitter Elysa Smith (Metamora) turned in her best offensive performance of the season with 16 kills on the night. Left side hitter Mikayla Siebert (Mackinaw) added 10 kills while middle hitter Cassidy Sanneman had seven kills and four blocks.

The Lady Lynx defense was led by libero Megan Gilliam (Waterloo) and defensive specialist Erica King (Atlanta). King had a team high 17 digs on the night while Gilliam recoded 13 of her own. Setters Abbi Buelow and Jenna Weller were busy finding open hitters all evening as they accumulated a total of 55 set assists.

LC Coach Mark Tippett was pleased with his team’s effort. “We were strong in all aspects of the game tonight,” said Tippett.

“Our offense showed a degree of balance that we have not been able to produce yet this season. Our passing was consistently on target which allowed our setters to use our middles and right side hitters more effectively instead of relying so heavily on our left sides.”

On Saturday, LC would face two of the top teams in Division III of the NJCAA. Madison CC won the DIII National Championship in 2015 and came in ranked in the top 20. Lincoln put up a lot of resistance, but was unable to take a set from Madison and fell 21-25, 19-25, and 31-33.

“I was hoping we would pass better in this match, but we passed very few balls to target off serve receive in the first set,” said Tippett.

“Our passing improved a lot over the course of the match and allowed us to better compete. Set three was a real fun battle and, even though we lost, it was a step forward against a strong opponent”

Things did not get any easier for Lincoln in their final match of the event. Their last opponent was the defending DIII National Champion, Harper College. Harper came in ranked in the top ten of the latest NJCAA DIII pole and showed why they are again considered a contender for the National title by defeating LC soundly by scores of 14-25, 17-25, and 14-25.

Tippett was impressed with Harper’s defensive performance against his team.

“We hit the ball very well against Harper, but they just would not let anything go down. Out hitters got frustrated several times because shots that we have been used to winning points on were being dug up and hit back at us until we wore down.”

Malinowski again led LC with 18 kills in the match. Cassidy Sanneman was strong behind the service line as she racked up 13 service point on the day. Right side hitter Mattie Giese (Highland Park) was also effective for LC in her first action of the season. Giese had 10 kills and block.

Lincoln is off until Thursday when they will host Mac Murray College in a 6:30 PM match.

[Mark Tippett
Lincoln College
Sports Information]