Dave Maxwell – Lincoln County volleyball coach Ken Thornock instructs the team during a timeout in their match with White Pine. Lincoln lost the match to the Bobcats 3-0 in the semifinals of the league tournament at Agassi Prep in Las Vegas.
Lincoln County volleyball had played league champion White Pine close in their double header league meetings in early September.
But they couldn’t do it this time, in the first round of the Division III Southern league playoffs at Agassi Prep in Las Vegas, losing 25-14, 25-12, 25-18.
Coach Ken Thornock said he told the team following the match, “Volleyball teaches a lot about lessons in life, when tough times come, we need to learn we are in control of the outcome, if we don’t give it to the other team.”
And he said he felt that the Lady Lynx were doing that too much in this match, giving up too many points on unforced errors in the first two games. “We scored a lot more points for them, than they scored for themselves. When you have hitting errors and passing errors, it just makes a big difference.”
The third game was closer, Lincoln even holding a lead, but Thornock said, “We gave points away again, and up against a good team, you can’t do that, you have to be in there towards the end and giving yourself an opportunity.”
He noted, “For two thirds of the (last) game, we were there, but the last third of it we didn’t give ourselves the opportunity to win it.”
But he praised the girls for playing well as a team, in that “a lot of people did different things at different times and that was what I notice more than any one player standing out so much. Even though we lost, I was pleased with the third set, it was more definitive of how we can play.”
The Lady Lynx, who finished the season with a 19-13 mark, have been in the league playoffs for the past 19 years, were the league and district tournament champions in 2008 and 2009, and state runners-up in 2008.
White Pine went on to defeat The Meadows 25-21, 25-11, 24-26, 25-21 for the Division III Southern League championship. Both teams will compete at state this weekend. White Pine has lost just once this season and holds a 28-1 record.
