Rough start for Lynx Volleyball at RMU Invite

[August 28, 2018] 

The Lincoln College Varsity Volleyball team competed in their first matches as a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) over the weekend at the Robert Morris University Invite in Chicago, Illinois. LC managed to compete well despite being without several key starters for this event, but still went 0-4.

Injuries and eligibility delays meant several members of the Lincoln Junior Varsity team were called up to play in the program’s first varsity event. Lincoln head coach Mark Tippett was impressed with the way his team handled the difficult circumstances.

“We asked a lot of our freshman players this weekend, and I thought they responded extremely well,” said Tippett. “It’s stressful to have to throw together a new lineup and play matches against established varsity programs, but we approached it all as a leaning opportunity and a chance to grow as a team.”

LC’s inexperience showed on Friday evening in their losses to Graceland College (14-25, 16-25, 18-25) and Trinity International (17-25, 15-25, 24-26). However, Coach Tippett saw positive signs in his team’s play.

“We made some adjustments after the loss to Graceland that paid off against Trinity,” Tippett said. “In the third set we began to catch up to the speed of the game and were able to reach a competitive level.”

On the second day of competition, Lincoln continued to gain confidence and become more comfortable as a unit. Against St. Mary of the Woods College, the Lady Lynx competed well from start to finish, but had to settle for a four-set loss (22-25, 25-18, 20-25, 19-25).

Lincoln had a tougher time getting going against William Penn University, but rebounded to push that match to four sets as well. LC lost to WPU 8-25, 12-25, 25-20, 22-25.

“I was proud of the way we competed on Saturday,” said Tippett. “We played a strong match against a good team from St. Mary’s and battled through fatigue in a very hot gym to give WPU a run for their money.”

Junior outside hitter Kaylyn Hoffert (Lincoln) led all hitters with 31 kills on the weekend. Mattie Geise, a junior right side hitter from Highland Park, IL was second on the team with 26 kills while fellow junior Mikayla Seibert (Mackinaw) chipped in 22 total kills and 8 blocks. Junior Elysa Smith (Metamora) led the team in blocks with 15. Freshman Morgan Lolling (Lincoln) was the team assist leader with a total of 66. Senior Melanie Murray (Chicago) collected 24 set assists in limited time at the setter position. Junior libero Megan Gilliam (Waterloo) had 47 digs on the weekend which was one more than the total accumulated by freshman outside hitter Morgan Meyer (Batesville, IN) who had 46.

Lincoln will look to earn their first win of the season at home Tuesday evening as they host Judson University for a 7:00 PM match.

[Mark Tippett
Lincoln College
Sports Information]