LC WVB Stays Hot with Three Wins at A.I.I. Invite

[September 24, 2019] 

This weekend Lincoln College Women’s Volleyball team established themselves as the team-to-beat in the Association of Independent Institutions (AII) Conference by winning all three matches played at the first AII Invitational crossover of the season. In all, seven teams participated in the two-day event which was co-hosted by Lincoln College and Lincoln Christian University.

Lincoln began the weekend with a three-set sweep of last year’s AII tournament champion, Haskell Indian Nations University. Haskell came out strong in the first set, jumping out to a 5-0 lead before a service error gave LC a chance to regroup. Haskell continued to keep the pressure on the Lady Lynx and extended their lead to 10-3. At that point, LC senior setter Emma Derry (Augusta) found fellow senior Hannah Cameron (Lincoln) for a kill which sent Cameron behind the service line. An ace serve by Cameron would then spark a five-point run for the Lady Lynx to narrow their deficit to just one point at 10-9 and get them back in the game. The two teams then traded leads up to a 19-19 tie score. On the next volley, Derry went to senior right side Elysa Smith (Metamora) for a kill that put LC in the lead. From there, Lincoln went on a 5-1 run that was punctuated by an ace serve from sophomore Morgan Lolling (Lincoln) to give the Lady Lynx the opening set win 25-20.

LC was able to keep the momentum on their side for most of the next two sets to earn a 25-21 win in set two and held off a late surge by Haskell for a 25-23 win in set three to end the match.

On Saturday morning, Lincoln faced another tough opponent in their match-up with the College of the Ozarks. Ozarks came in to the weekend with an identical record to Lincoln (9-6) and dominated play to earn two wins the night before in matches played at LCU. The first set played on Saturday proved the two teams were evenly matched as they traded side outs and small leads up to a 21-21 tie score. An Ozarks attack error put LC up 22-21 and that was followed by a kill from LC’s Ashlyn Slater (Grain Valley, MO). The Lincoln defense then forced two attack errors which gave LC the 25-21 set one win.

Set two started off very rough for the Lady Lynx as they fell behind 7-0. They would eventually battle their way back into the set and actually overcame the poor start to tie the score at 20-20, but in the end had to settle for a 25-23 loss. The setback did not phase Lincoln’s confidence though as they roared out to a commanding 12-4 lead in set three. Much of the damage was done by a five-point run of serves from senior outside hitter Kaylyn Hoffert (Lincoln). Hoffert was aided by a pair of kills from Elysa Smith during the hot streak and an ace. LC would go on to extend their lead to as many as eleven points at 20-9 and in the end took the set 25-14.

Ozarks made set four a more competitive set as they regrouped and stopped LC from going on any long runs of points, but they were not able to slow down the Lincoln offense often enough to avoid a 25-22 loss that ended the match.

After the hard-fought win over College of the Ozarks, the Lady Lynx had an easier time handling Holy Family College. LC dominated play from start to finish, cruising to a 25-10, 25-7, 25-8 victory.

Among the offensive stars for LC on the weekend were right side hitter Mikayla Seibert (Mackinaw) and middle hitters Amazing Ashby (Aurora, CO) and Kayla Battle (Aurora, IL). Seibert finished the weekend with 23 kills while Ashby had 19 and Battle totaled 14. Senior outside hitter Kaylyn Hoffert was also part of the Lincoln attack this weekend for the first time this season as she was recently cleared for front row play. Hoffert responded with 14 kills in all. Setters Emma Derry and Morgan Lolling split the setting duties with Derry racking up 61 assists and Lolling 47 over the course of three matches played. Libero Megan Gilliam (Waterloo) led the defensive effort with 57 digs.

LC (12-6) will play next at Lincoln Christian University on Tuesday evening at 7:00 PM.

[Mark Tippett
Lincoln College
Sports Information]