October leaves have turned colors, temperatures have cooled, and the haunts of Halloween are beginning to take shape. Within the strange change of the month, the LIncoln Wolves found a little howl as they faced Mansfield in volleyball action on October 7. However, the Mansfield Lady Tigers growled the loudest with a 3-1 victory at home.
Despite a minor slip in set three, the hometown Tigers muzzled the Wolves for the most part in securing another conference win. The next to the last home match for the Tigers kept them in first place in the 3A-1 standings at 13-0 and 23-6 overall.
Mansfield sophomore Adeline Godwin came to play. The outside hitter/setter dished out 21 assists. Eight came after Lincoln surprised by stealing the third set in a tight points race that went extra long. She also had 6 kills and a pair of dramatic saves.
When the Mansfield Tiger offense ran through Godwin, good things were happening. Senior middle Kaylee Ward got involved. Junior middle Danielle Lowery and sophomore outside hitter Miley Clopton got it going. Combined, the Tiger threats lived at the net with Godwin directing traffic.
Ward, the season’s leading scorer, had 23 winners on offense. Notably, four out of her first six attempts came by way of a two handed push or drop shot past an attempting Wolf block. Those finesse points came in the first two sets as the Lincoln defense was primed on stopping the 3A-1 league’s best player. Ward’s next 17 opportunities were full blown swings. The senior striker hit hard peppering the floor with cannon shots that Lincoln could only watch.
None of Ward's hard hitters were more spectacular than the right side kill crushed to win the fourth set and end the match. The 6’ 4” senior came undetected from the right boundary line with bad intentions on her mind. Just then, an elite backset from Godwin hovered at optimal height. Ward beat down the lofted ball with emphasis for the cross court winner.
Lowery added a half dozen winners along the front line as well. She also posted some big time blocks of would be Wolf attacks. Teammate Whitley Boyd, the only other junior starter for MHS, got into the block party with Lowery. Together the two raised multiple tandem stops.
Clopton got it going with 8 kills for Mansfield’s offense. Four came in the critical second set with the outcome perilously undecided up through the final few serves. She also had an outstanding save diving towards the sideline that Boyd finished off with a push over the net for the winner.
In that second set, Lincoln linked together 7 straight points including an ace, a dink, a kill, and 4 Mansfield mistakes. Tiger coach Kaylie Pyles called timeout in the midst of the Mansfield let down, to right the ship. Upon forcing an eventual sideout, Godwin finished the squeaky tight set with an impressive hit. MHS took the second stand 25-23.
Tiger sophomore Kerrington Quick rotated in to set up Godwin with that assist. Quick, the Tiger’s second leading assist artist, placed 13 balls into attack position for Tiger hitters to crush throughout the four set match.
Mansfield’s Bailey Quick was solid in service rotation adding to the TIger’s skilled presence. The tenth grade back row specialist put 25 serves into play throughout the four sets. Four dropped for aces. Ward added 3 aces while Abby Smith also had an ace and some stellar defensive plays for Mansfield.
The Lady Tigers stayed in control through much of the first set. An 8-8 tie was as close as the Wolves would get in that opener. Mansfield would eventually pull away for the 25-15 victory.
In that first frame, Lincoln tried to hinder the Tiger traction with a pair of timeouts within one 10 point stretch. The double pause went without teeth as Mansfield kept their foot on the gas.
In the second set, Lincoln managed some much needed confidence. Despite what turned into a two point loss, they changed the level of their howl. The Wolves played better defense, improved their passing, and went on the attack. By the third set, the visitors had gained enough confidence to go at the league leaders.
Playing it close to the vest, Lincoln stayed within striking distance. Only down two points at 12-10, the Wolves then rallied for 8 straight points including a pair of aces and some well timed blocks. From there matters stayed tight until the Wolves chewed off the stunner at 24-26.
Mansfield rebounded early in the fourth set. The Tigers responded by racing out to a 10-2 margin. Ward, Bailey Quick and Godwin had service rotations of 5, 4 and 3 points. In the stand, the Tigers looked very much the part of undefeated conference queenpins. As the set went on, they put the polish on the finale with a 25-9 shine.
The Lincoln contest was played on day two of a “pink out” breast cancer awareness week. Mansfield started the awareness week one night sooner with a 3-0 victory over Booneville. The Tigers demolished the Bearcats 25-6, 25-12 and 25-7.
Mansfield’s junior Tigers also dumped the Bearcats in straight sets. Those scores were 25-17 and 25-23. That was a Monday non-conference win. What followed on Tuesday was the juniors girls conference decision against Lincoln.
Mansfield eighth grade middle hitter Jaiden Black painted the back line with a punctuation mark off the assist by Ellah Heydenreich for the win against the Wolves. The set count on Tuesday's victory was 25-14 and 25-20.
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