Lincoln Men’s Volleyball Opens Up with Win at Goshen

[January 29, 2019] 

The Lincoln College Men’s Volleyball team was able to go on the road and defeat the Goshen College Maple Leafs in four sets to earn a win in the team’s first match as a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).

The Lynx had a tough time getting going in the opening set and trailed by a point or two throughout the early going. LC was able to tie the score at 17-17, but a three-point run by Goshen put the Maple Leafs ahead for good and Lincoln had to settle for a 20-25 loss in set one.

Set two started out in a similar fashion with Lincoln struggling to get their offense on track and trailing by two-to-three points for most of the set. However, the tide began to turn when setter Nick Washington (St. Louis, MO) went behind the service line with his team trailing 9-12 and served five-points in a row to help the Lynx take a 14-12 lead. From there, LC was able to maintain their advantage and hold on for a 25-23 win to even the match at one set apiece.

In set three, LC showed a renewed confidence and reduced their hitting errors which led to a decisive 25-18 win.

The momentum from the team’s improved performance carried over into set four as the Lynx built a commanding 20-14 lead. Goshen did not give up though, and took advantage of a late run of LC hitting errors to get back in the set and tie the score at 23-23. On the next volley, LC libero Trenton Keilion (Princeville) came up with a huge dig to deny a Goshen hitter the kill and sophomore Jonathan Lindner (Oak Lawn) ended the volley with a clutch kill from the back row to give Lincoln their first match-point opportunity. Setter Nick Washington’s serve for the match was good and resulted in a Goshen hitting error that gave LC the 25-23 set-four win they needed to end the match.

Setters Bryan Orellana (Chicago) and Nick Washington combined for 47 set assists on the day. Orellana picked up 27 of those assists and he led the team in digs with 19.

Left side hitter Ramon Matos, a sophomore from Chicago, Illinois, recorded a team-high 17 kills in the match and was good for 15 digs as well.

Two other Lynx to reach double-digits in kills were senior Corey Poindexter (Overland, MO) who had 14 and junior right side Charles Carter (Blue Island) who had 11.

Libero Trenton Keilion was steady for LC in serve receive as well as on defense as he collected 15 digs in the match.

Lincoln Head Coach Mark Tippett saw many positive signs in his team’s first match of the year. “Overall we played a strong match against a very scrappy team,” said Tippett. “We had to work for every point, and I was pleased with how we responded when we were in pressure situations. Our offense got sharper as the match went on and we played with intensity on defense. It was a good start to the season.”

LC will travel to take on Greenville University on Tuesday, January 29th for their second match of the year.

[Mark Tippett
Lincoln College
Sports Information]