Morgan Stackhouse
Lincoln County High Senior Keely Jackson gets to the ball during the Lady Lynx state semifinal match against Yeerington.
Lincoln County put up a fight against the Yerington Lions in the state tournament on Nov. 9.
However, it wasn’t quite enough to make it to the championship.
The Lady Lynx fell 3-0 (25-16, 25-12, 25-20).
Coach Chantel Holt said, “I thought we played the best we had all year and that’s all I can ask for. Did we win? No. Did we play perfect? No. Compared to the way we played in the beginning of the season, it was leaps and bounds. The score was tied point for point.”
The first set was back and forth up until around point 16. Lincoln countered everything Yerington threw at them. Seniors KyLee Cameron and Kendra Mathews owned the net with blocks and kills. Then Yerington caught Lincoln with a serve and the Lady Lynx struggled to return it, and Yerington pulled ahead for 25-16 win.
In the next set, Yerington came out strong and Lincoln wasn’t quite ready. However, the final 25-12 is a little misleading as the rallies were long and hard-fought; Lincoln unfortunately lost them more than Yerington did due to a few small mistakes.
In the final set, Yerington took an early lead, 9-2. Mathews turned the game around with some plays at the net and a consistent serve. Lincoln was still down by a few and fought to play catch-up. Ultimately, Yerington knocked Lincoln out of the tournament 25-20.
“Their outside hitter hit line … definitely played a part between us winning and losing that last game,” Holt said. “If we are going to be competitive in the future, we need to work on having two blockers. But our middles did a great job with what they did do. It was significant. They didn’t just block them; they stuffed them. Our setter did a good job of trying to get everyone the chance to hit.”
The Lady Lynx finished off the season with a 15-10 overall record and an 11-3 league record.
Holt said, “We always started off a little unsure. We always seem to have an unexpected team and this year we were a little young with four sophomores. We started picking it up, and I think we peaked at the right time. I seriously think our game against Yerington was our best one. That score did not show how well we did. It was just by millimeters, here and there. I think we did excellent. It was fun to watch.”
Yerington moved on to play The Meadows in the state final, losing 3-1.
