Lynx Ladies Battle Darby Tigers

Volleyball season bounced into Lincoln Thursday night, Sept. 5 before a sparse early-season hometown crowd in the school gym as the Lincoln lady Lynx took on the more numerous Darby Tiger players.

The Darby bus brought 24 ladies, evenly divided between varsity and junior varsity teams, while the Lincoln ladies had only eleven total players, many of them playing in both games. But, until exhaustion set in, the Lynx seemed to draw energy and intensity from the ether. Long volleys back and forth pushed the local players and their fans to the limit.

The varsity ladies played their hearts out.

"This team has a lot of hustle. They never give up," said coach Laura Allen-Bullis.

Winning the first set, 25 - 21, the Lynx were ahead from the first point and never looked back in that game. The second set saw some mis-communication among the local gals and the beginning waves of weariness.

Darby rotated their starters onto the bench for regular rests, but the Lynx had only their starters and junior varsity players who had already put in a hard night during their 3 - 1 set win over the Darby JV in the 4:30 game. No rest for the weary in the varsity contest. The final stats told the story, 25-21, 17-25, 23-25, and 21-25; an energetic start and a gritty determined perseverance until the end.

The crowd was kept in the game by some truly amazing and acrobatic saves by the Lady Lynx during volleys that looked impossible to return.

Sophomore Andrea LaManna, who tries to keep calm between crucial points by dancing and kidding with teammates, said she loves volleyball because "the team is close, on and off the court. We shake it off if we make a mistake. After all, it's only a game. We don't play well if we're being too intense. "

The Lincoln squad had an 81 percent serve success rate with Nikki Snyder making a 100 percent perfect serving effort. Alexis Cannon pounded down 12 kills and Andrea LaManna added seven more kills. Sage Kamps put up 14 sets and LaManna had three dramatic blocked balls at the net. The team scored nine ace serves among four players.

The next home game is Friday, Sept. 27 at 4:30 p.m. against Valley Christian Lady Eagles. There's plenty of room in the stands for Lincoln fans to come out and support their athletes.