Lincoln sweeps Jacksonville in home
opener
[August 27, 2025]
The Lincoln Railers volleyball team opened the 2025 season on
Tuesday night at home against the Jacksonville Crimson.
Lincoln’s Freshman, Junior Varsity and Varsity teams all picked up
wins versus the Crimson.
The freshman team started the night winning in three sets, 25-16,
16-25 and 15-8.
The Lincoln JV team won 25-20 and 25-12.
The Railers Varsity squad won in two sets, 25-21 and 25-18.
Lincoln was led by seniors Lily Holmes and Makia Hassebrock.
Holmes had 11 kills and Hassebrock threw down 10 kills.
Lauren Tedrick had 22 assists to lead Lincoln.
Lincoln returned three starters from last season: Lily Holmes,
Lauren Tedrick and Makia Hassebrock. All three are seniors.
Jocelyn Perkins, Dabria Dalpoas and freshman Grace Bivin joined the
starting lineup on opening night.
The libero for Lincoln is Paycen Schaefer.
Set One
Lily Holmes recorded the first kill for Lincoln, putting the home
team up 1-0. The two teams traded points evenly until Jacksonville
jumped in front 7-5. Lincoln found themselves down 12-7 after a
string of errors. Lincoln coach Natalie Clements called a timeout
and that sparked a run by the Railers once they returned to the
court. Lincoln used four kills and a tip to tie the set 12-12. The
Crimson took a 16-12 lead on a handful of errors by the Railers.
Holmes brought the team back once again, this time she really meant
to make a statement. Three consecutive kills by Holmes breathed new
life into the Railers. In fact, she had back-to-back kills that were
easily the hardest hits of the night. With Grace Bivin playing the
middle she was able to use a kill and a tip to put Lincoln back on
top, 17-16 the score. Holmes was clearly warmed up after her kill to
keep Lincoln on top, 18-17. She even marched to the service line and
served up an ace to stretch the lead. Two more kills from Hassebrock
kept the Railers up 21-18. The Railers took advantage of some costly
Crimson errors down the stretch and marched to a 25-21 victory in
set one.
[to top of second column] |
Coach Natalie Clements discusses the game plan with her team during
a timeout in Lincoln's season opener. Photo by Teena Lowery.
Set two
Lincoln jumped in front 3-0 in set two. Then it was Jacksonville’s
turn to take a 5-4 lead. Lincoln took a turn with an 8-6 lead.
Jacksonville jumped back on top 10-9. Both teams were committing the
kind of errors that are typical on opening night. A lot of missed
serves, balls flying out of bounds and the occasional ball hit into
the net. Hassebrock’s kill put Lincoln back on top 12-10 and the
Railers never let the lead go after that point. It’s really nice for
Lincoln to have a 6’2 player in the middle in Perkins and she helped
the team to a 14-11 lead. That lead grew to 16-11 before the Crimson
struck back with a couple points. After a block on Holmes, the
Crimson trailed just 18-17. Some ugly errors committed by the
Crimson gave the Railers a 23-17 lead. After Tedrick and Bivin
combined on a block, Lincoln was just about guaranteed a victory
with the score 24-17. The Crimson were given one more point before
Holmes slammed the door just like she had opened set one. Lily Joy
had the team jumping for joy after a final kill into the Crimson
defenders secured the first win of the season. Lincoln walked away
25-18 winners in set two.
Lincoln coach Natalie Clements was pleased with her team’s
resiliency on opening night.
“For the first game, I thought we did really well,” said Clements.
“We were down and our girls came together. They fought back to get
ahead and get the win in both sets.”
Lincoln starts the season 1-0.
Lincoln will play at Champaign Centennial on Thursday night.
Freshman @ 5:00 p.m.
Junior Varsity @ 6:00 p.m.
Varsity @ 7:00 p.m.
Lincoln stats
Holmes 11 kills 4 digs 1 block
Hassebrock 10 kills 2 assists 2 digs
Tedrick 22 assists 1 block
Bivin 2 kills
Perkins 1 kill 3 blocks
Schaefer 5 digs
Davenport 5 digs
[Teena Lowery] |
