LC Women’s Volleyball Outlasts H-LGU in 5 Sets

[September 24, 2018] 

LINCOLN, IL — The Lincoln College Women’s Volleyball team survived a close call at home on Thursday evening as they defeated the visiting Hannibal-LaGrange University Trojans in a five-set thriller.

This was the team’s opening match in the inaugural Crosstown Classic, a three-day event which Lincoln College is co-hosting with Lincoln Christian University.

LC appeared to be in command of the match early as they led most of the way through set one to take it 25-19 then jumped out to a 6-0 advantage to start set two. Lincoln’s lead was built upon the accurate serving of sophomore libero Megan Gilliam (Waterloo) who ran off five points in a row including one ace before HLGU managed a side out.

Lincoln maintained a three-to-five point advantage until a rash of hitting and ball handling errors allowed the Trojans to close the gap and take a 16-15 lead. The two teams then battled back and forth up to a 23-23 tie score. A Trojan hitting error gave the Lady Lynx a set point opportunity, but they were unable to convert and LaGrange took advantage of the error to win the next two points for a 26-24 set two win.

Mikayla Seibert

Emma Derry

In set three, Lincoln returned to form by reducing their errors and won the set 25-20. The combination of junior setter Emma Derry (Augustana) and outside hitter Mikayla Seibert (Mackinaw) came up big for LC in the set. Derry and Seibert connected four times for kills that helped keep the momentum on Lincoln’s side.

The Lady Lynx looked to close out the match in set four and seemed well on their way to victory until another string of errors let the Trojans back in the set. LC held a 21-17 advantage but a 6-1 run by LaGrange put Lincoln on their heels. A side out on a kill by junior Kaylyn Hoffert (Lincoln) tied the set at 23-23 but two quick Lincoln hitting errors gave HLGU the 25-23 win they needed to force a deciding set to 15.

In the final set, Lincoln took the early lead going up 8-4, but LaGrange again mounted a comeback to take a 12-10 advantage. Down by two points, Lincoln setter Emma Derry found Mikayla Seibert again for a much needed side out which was followed by a Trojan hitting error to tie the score at 12-12. The two teams then traded side outs to take the score to 13-13. A Lincoln hitting error gave HLGU the first match point opportunity which was denied by another Mikayla Seibert kill to extend the set and send freshman setter Moran Lolling (Lincoln) behind the service line. Lolling’s first serve resulted in a LaGrange hitting error and her next was an ace to give LC a 16-14 set five win to end the match.

Lincoln Head Coach Mark Tippett was happy his team was able to pull off the win. “I have to hand it to LaGrange for never quitting on us tonight,” said Tippett. “We played well most of the night, but made way too many errors which kept us from putting our opponents away when we certainly had chances to do it. Hopefully, we have that out of our system and can get back to playing as consistently as we have been as of late,” he added.

The victory evens the Lady Lynx record on the season at 8-8.

The Crosstown Classic will continue on Friday with Lincoln hosting two more matches. The Lady Lynx will take on Crowley’s Ridge College (AR) at 4:00 PM and then face Monmouth College at 8:00 PM. On Saturday morning, Lincoln will play their final match of the event against Roosevelt University at 11:00 AM.

[Mark Tippett
Lincoln College
Sports Information]