High School Girls Volleyball
Lady Railers keep Rockets grounded

 

[September 06, 2023] 

The Lady Railers took the court for warm-ups prior to the Varsity game with Rochester on Tuesday night and with Taylor Swift’s “Cruel Summer” blaring throughout the Rochester Athletic Center’s sound system, the Swifties donning the red road uniforms got fired up early.

Lincoln came out in the first set and controlled the tempo, darting to a 25-12 win pretty quickly. Set two took about the same amount of time and the Rockets gave Lincoln a better game. Still approximately 50 minutes from the start of the match, the Lady Railers claimed set two by a final score of 25-22.

Set one

The Rockets did score the first point of set one, but after a tip by Lily Holmes (Swiftie ~ Chicago Night One) the score was tied and Lincoln was ready to go to work. Peyton Sasse’s first kill of the set knotted the score at 3-3 and then it was Becca Heitzig’s ace breaking the tie.

After a huge kill by the Rocket’s Ellie Gegen tied the teams at 4-4, Alyssa Company earned the lead back for Lincoln with a really nice kill. With the score 6-5 in Lincoln’s favor, the Lady Railers rattled off five straight points. Company added another kill during this run and Addy Qualters added an ace, while Sasse finished the run with a kill from the 10-foot line.

Rochester had to scratch their way back from an 11-5 deficit and they just couldn’t do it.

Lincoln was up 15-7 after Kloe Froebe (Swiftie ~ Cincinnati Night One) went airborne and got on top of the volleyball and crushed it. The kill literally went straight down without any chance of being returned and while Froebe didn’t appear angry and flashed a dimple-filled smile afterwards, she earned the nickname “Killer Kloe” for the night. She had some monster kills. Maybe that second Taylor Swift song that was played in warm-ups really had Froebe inspired. That song was “Look What You Made Me Do” and the way Froebe was hitting the ball versus Rochester it was almost as if she was aiming for Kanye West on the other side of the court, all on Taylor’s behalf.

Sasse then drove the Lady Railers out to an 18-9 lead with three kills. After a Rochester timeout, Heitzig increased the lead to 19-9 on an ace. Froebe had another huge kill right down the line that made the score 21-10.

The Lady Railers won a long volley near the end of the set as Qualters tipped the ball over and into the hole on the other side of the court. In the midst of that long volley, Jenna Bowman (Swiftie ~ Kansas City Night One) had a really nice dig where she extended an arm out and was able to catch a piece of the ball and keep it playable for Lincoln. Game point was then reached on Company’s kill from the middle to end the set by a final score of 25-12.

Set two

The Rockets were charged up early in set two with a short-lived 2-0 lead but Burge’s tip tied things up at 3-3.

Taryn Stoltzenburg (Swiftie ~ Cincinnati Night One) had a really nice defensive play here to keep Lincoln in motion. Lincoln fell behind 3-5 before a Sasse kill and a tip by Froebe made it a brand new ballgame again. An ace by Sasse put Lincoln on top 6-5 and eventually Lincoln pulled away 8-5. After kills by Company and Froebe, the Lady Railers were in front 12-7.

The Rockets came back to within two points, before a key kill by Burge made the score 13-10. The Rockets were a lot more focused in set two and came within a point, 14-13 the score.

Once again, Lincoln was able to pull it together and stretch the lead to 16-13 after a kill by Company. A few errors kept the Rockets in the set, with the score 16-15.

After Qualters was able to sneak in a tip, the lead was 17-15. Froebe was able to keep the Rockets at a distance with a kill that put the score at 19-17. Lincoln would stretch the lead to 21-17 but the Rockets kept fans on the edge of their seats until the very end. Holmes gave Lincoln a much-needed kill to make the score 22-18.

In the final minutes of play Lincoln was able to hold a two-point lead over Rochester. The game ended on Sasse placing one deep in the corner for a kill and a Lincoln victory. The final score in set two was 25-22.

This story is not complete without mentioning the high energy cheering of Piper Whiteman (Swiftie ~ Cincinnati Night One) from the bench. Whiteman has a sprained wrist but from the bench she was the first to spring up and lead the team in cheers.

And there was plenty to cheer about inside the RAC. Both Rochester and Lincoln are solid teams with a lot of experience and some young talent already making an impact. They will each have successful seasons.

Lincoln is just hard to contain with their firepower in that front row. The Lincoln offense combined to put down 28 kills versus the Rockets.

Peyton Sasse led the team with 9 kills and Kloe Froebe added 7 kills. Alyssa Company was next in line with 5 kills, while setter Addy Qualters tallied 3 kills. Rebecca Burge and Lily Holmes each added 2 kills.

Meanwhile, a scrappy back row, with Heitzig and Stoltzenburg getting consistent help from Froebe, Sasse and Qualters when needed, did a really good job against the Rockets. Heitzig led the team with 11 digs and Sasse and Qualters each had 5 digs to add to their stat sheet.

Froebe was phenomenal in the back row versus the Rockets, too and there were a few times she muscled up to stay on her feet and make a great pass. Froebe’s overall game was terrific and key to the team getting the win, but again it had to be the Taylor Swift music that inspired her and her teammates.

Lincoln head coach Kaylee Lowery offered these post game comments, as her team improved to 4-0 in the Central State Eight:

“Our first set of Varsity tonight was great,” said Lowery. “We came out ready to play and take care of business. Our middles were hustling, our outsides were swinging, and our serve receive was great. The second set we sort of lost focus and that is something we are working on as a team. It feels good to get another CS8 win on the road and now we’ll take the rest of the week to prepare for our home tournament this weekend.”

Lincoln will host the Hampton Inn Tournament this Friday and Saturday at Roy S. Anderson.

Lincoln improved to 9-1 on the season.

The Lady Railers JV team lost in three sets to Rochester. After winning the first set 25-20, Lincoln lost 25-19 and 15-6.

The JV team is 5-3 on the season.

The freshman team lost to Rochester, playing three sets to 15. The scores were 9-15,11-15 and 15-13.

The Freshman team is 3-5 on the season.

Varsity stats versus Rochester

Peyton Sasse 9 kills 5 digs

Kloe Froebe 7 kills 4 digs

Alyssa Company 5 kills 2 blocks 2 digs

Rebecca Burge 2 kills 1 block

Taryn Stoltzenburg 3 digs

Addy Qualters 21 assists 5 digs

Becca Heitzig 11 digs 1 assist

Lily Holmes 2 kills 1 block

Jenna Bowman 2 digs

[Teena Lowery]