The Lady Lynx had a bit of a rough start at the White Pine Invitational, yet they played hard and made it to the championship match.
It was pool play; everyone played everyone, and the tournament was very competitive and evenly matched.
“We were the only team Wendover lost to all weekend, but we lost to teams that Wendover beat,” Coach Chantel Holt said. “In the beginning, we were still trying to figure out where we were on the court and how we were going to work together.”
Lincoln played their first match on Friday, Aug. 24, against the Battle Mountain Longhorns. The Longhorns beat them in two sets.
The Lady Lynx came back from their loss to play Wendover and beat them in two sets.
For the final match on Friday, Lincoln played White Pine. It was back and forth until Lincoln began to falter and lost.
The next morning, the Lady Lynx battled it out with Tonopah, whom they lost to last year for third place in the tournament. It was another battle and Tonopah barely pulled ahead to get the win.
Lincoln played West Wendover for the final match of pool play. They beat them in two sets.
Due to the girls beating Wendover and West Wendover, they scraped into the fourth seed of the tournament, playing the first seed, Wendover, for the semi-finals. Wendover was 4-1. Lincoln was the only team they had lost to.
Due to younger girls on the team and new rotations, getting everyone to where they needed to be on the court had previously been a struggle for the the team. However, during the Wendover match, the Lady Lynx finally pulled it all together.
For the first couple points of the first set, it was neck and neck. However, Lincoln would not let down. They fought for every point and won that set, 25-15. The second set was just as much of a fight. Sadie Soderborg was the team’s first server and, due to her serves and the team’s unwillingness to let the ball hit the floor, she served 9-0 before turning it over.
Wendover finally got a few serves over, but Lincoln would not let down and won with the second set.
“We finally gelled right at the right time,” Holt said. “We stomped them. We had finally found a rhythm. We took care of the ball, but not only that, we were aggressive when we needed to be.”
The coach added, “Sadie really stepped up, defensively and offensively. Kendra [Mathews] and KyLee [Cameron] really owned the net. Ellie Frehner came off the bench at a crucial moment, after not playing in two days, and gave us a breather when we needed one.”
Lincoln moved on to the championship match against Battle Mountain. The first set was neck and neck. The rallies were endless, and Battle Mountain barely scraped past with the win, 25-23.
The second match started with the Lady Lynx in the lead. Battle Mountain matched them, then kept going up. Lincoln was at a five-point deficit, unable to break it. They would side out and cut the gap a few points, only to give those points back to Battle Mountain. Battle Mountain finally won the set, taking first in the tournament.
“To be honest, I think we ran out of steam,” Holt said. “It’s a long, grueling two-day tournament.”
On Thursday, Sept. 6, the Lady Lynx play their first home match against Virgin Valley at 5:30 p.m.
