LC Men’s Volleyball Starts Season 2-2

[January 26, 2018] 

The Lincoln College Men’s Volleyball teams started their 2018 seasons on Wednesday evening with a trip to Greenville College (NCAA DIII) for a dual set of matches. The event featured both the LC Varsity and JV teams as well as the Missouri Baptist University JV. Both Lincoln teams finished the event 1-1.

The entire starting lineup has returned for the LC Varsity team, which last year finished 5th in the nation at the Division II level of the National Club Volleyball Federation (NCVF).

Two key returners for the Lynx include senior middle hitter Michael Wesley (North Chicago) and junior middle Deantrius Coleman (North Chicago). Wesley and Coleman look to provide a consistent block at the net and get involved in the offense as well.

Sophomore Charles Carter (Blue Island) returns for his second season as a Lynx. Carter, a high flying right side hitter, was a standout at the NCVF National Tournament last year. His play at the event earned him a place on the NCVF DII All-Tournament team.

Lake Park High School grad Kyle Murphy and Corey Poindexter from Ritenour High School in St. Louis figure to provide passing and defensive support as well as being threats to score on offense.

All LC hitters will be relying on the passing skills of libero Michael Konczal (Blue Island) and defensive specialists Jordan Cruickshank (Itasca) and Andrew Martinez (Chicago) as well as the accurate setting of juniors Brian Orellana (Chicago) and Greg Scott (North Chicago) to spark the offense.

The Lincoln College JV team features several strong additions to the program as well as three talented returning sophomores.

At the Greenville invite, the LC Varsity and JV teams each made quick work of the Missouri Baptist JV. The Varsity team won their match 25-7, 25-13 while the JV took their matchup with MO Bap by scores of 25-13, 25-18.

Against the Greenville varsity team, the Lincoln JV struggled to serve consistently, missing 9 times in the first set, yet they were able to remain competitive and lost both sets by close margins (25-22, 25-21).

Freshman Luey Marquez (Orlando, FL) led the JV team in kills with 7 and set assists with 8. Fellow freshmen Jonathan Vargas (Puerto Rico) and Jack Lindner (Oak Lawn) finished with 5 kills apiece.

The LC varsity team faired better against Greenville in their best three-of-five format match. The Lynx were able to take the first set 25-23, but fell in the next three 19-25, 21-25, and 21-25.

Charles Carter accumulated a team-high 13 kills in the match and he accounted for 6 blocks. Michael Wesley also had 6 blocks against Greenville to go along with his 7 kills. Greg Scott’s 19 set assists led the team as well.

Lincoln College Coach Mark Tippett was pleased with what he saw from both teams in their first action of the season.

“I felt good about the way we competed against a varsity team as strong as Greenville,” said Tippett.

“They were a fantastic blocking team and really served us aggressively. It was a good experience for our younger players to face such a strong team early in the year. They were a little nervous for sure, but once that wore off they played right with them,” Tippett added.

Tippett was likewise happy with the performance of his returning team. “Our upperclassmen are going into their third season together and they stood up to the pressure Greenville put on us very well,” he said. We looked a little rusty at points and had a tough time in a couple of rotations, but overall we were able to run our offense and score on them when we kept the ball in system.”

Lincoln will host their first home matches of the year this Saturday. Both teams will be in action against the St. Ambrose University JV team and the Bradley University Club team. Match times are set for 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.

[Mark Tippett
Lincoln College
Sports Information]