High School volleyball
Lady Railers crush Jacksonville Crimson

 

[September 01, 2023] 

The Lady Railers defeated the Jacksonville Crimson Thursday night in two sets that lasted fifteen minutes each. Lincoln won the first set 25-3 and the second set 25-9 in front of the home crowd at Roy S. Anderson.

Peyton Sasse led the team with 8 kills while Kloe Froebe and Alyssa Company each had 7 kills.

If you were watching the game in person you know there is nothing delicate about the way any of these girls hit the ball. There is a lot of power in their swings. There is also a lot of buzz among fans already about the strength and athleticism of these girls. On Thursday night the front row showed the fans how much they have improved at the net since last season. The entire team really shows no weaknesses. For this early in the season, they are pretty polished. It’s evident of the work they put in during the offseason and particularly this summer.

Varsity

Set one

Lily Holmes put Lincoln in the scoring column with the first kill of the game in set one. After a kill by Peyton Sasse, Lincoln was up 3-0. After the Crimson had their first point handed to them on a missed serve by Lincoln, the Lady Railers ran the score up to 16-1. Lincoln just has so many ways to beat you in their lineup. Kloe Froebe, Alyssa Company, Rebecca Burge and Sasse just dominated at the net, either with a kill or a tip or a block. They are just relentless on the court. At one point, the score was so sad on Jacksonville’s behalf that Railer Nation began chanting, “Let’s go, Crimson!” The encouragement was nice but it didn’t help. Lincoln built a 23-2 lead after an ace by Kendal Long. Arianna Morris ended the set for Lincoln on a tip and the final score in set one was 25-3.

Set two

Moving quickly to the next 15 minutes of action, Jacksonville put the first point on the board and then it was Lincoln running out to an 11-3 lead. Coach Kaylee Lowery played all her reserves (except for Piper Whiteman, who is nursing a sore wrist at the moment) and the lead continued to grow. With the score 14-6, Lincoln went on a run. They outscored Jacksonville 8-1 in a stretch that included a couple blocks and a nice kill by Burge and a couple kills and a block by Sasse. Burge and Sasse are a handful at the net. Very intimidating with their height. Once the score reached 22-9, the Lady Railers decided to end things quickly. Sasse put down a monster kill to which the Crimson defender appeared to say, “I’m just going to duck out of the way of this one.” Then it was Long serving an ace and finally the Crimson just surrendered and hit one out of bounds on the last play to get things over with. Lincoln collects the win with a 25-9 victory in set two.

Once again Lady Railer fans left a gymnasium with daylight still burning. The game was over at 7:41 p.m.

Head coach Kaylee Lowery offered these post game comments, as her team leaves August behind undefeated:

“We set the tempo from the get go and as the bench came in and the game went on, we kept it up,” said Lowery. “Sasse led the offense with eight kills followed by Company and Froebe with seven each. Of course, that’s not possible without a set and Addy Qualters notched 19 assists, and once again that’s not possible without a pass. Taryn Stoltzenburg, Kendal Long, and Becca Heitzig ran our defense tremendously well which allowed Qualters to run our offense and our front row to dominate. It’s nice to have a deep and well-rounded bench. I know I can count on each of them to step up and perform every time they enter the game. We took care of business and are now eager to see the competition that this weekend in Edwardsville will bring.”

The Lady Railers Varsity team improved to 4-0 on the season.

The Lady Railers Junior Varsity team won 25-16 and 25-9 and they improved to 4-0 on the season.

There was no Freshman game.

The Varsity team will play this weekend in the 2023 Tiger Classic Volleyball Tournament in Edwardsville. Lincoln will play Bloomington at 7:00 p.m. and Freeburg at 8:00 p.m.

Teams in the Tiger Classic are:

Lincoln
O’Fallon
Staunton
Columbia
Highland
Edwardsville
Central
Mahomet-Seymour
Decatur Eisenhower
Freeburg
Bloomington
Pleasant Plains
Rock Island
Lincoln Way West

Varsity stats versus Jacksonville

Peyton Sasse 8 kills 1 block 1 dig

Alyssa Company 7 kills 2 blocks

Kloe Froebe 7 kills 5 digs

Rebecca Burge 1 kill 4 blocks

Taryn Stoltzenburg 7 digs

Addy Qualters 19 assists 2 kills 2 digs

Becca Heitzig 3 digs

Lily Holmes 2 kills

Arianna Morris 1 kill 1 dig

Kendal Long 6 digs 1 assist

Lauren Tedrick 4 assists

Jenna Bowman 1 dig

[Teena Lowery]