Five months ago during the alternate Fall High School Girls Volleyball season, Manitowoc Lincoln came within 1-win of a State championship. The 2021-Ships of Coach Mary Beth Dixon just completed the nonconference portion of their schedule with a 2-and-2 record, ahead of the FRCC opener on the road tonight.
Lincoln defeated both highly-regarded Sun Prairie and Edgewood recently at a Madison area tournament, where 5-of-the-6 teams were at either the State Fall or Spring tourney.
Now in her 21st year as head coach, Dixon said she has 55 players in the program.
“Our numbers are up,” she said. “We have four teams, a Varsity, and a JV1, JV2, and JV3.”
The JV2 team has seen some success this year, having won the Manitowoc and Plymouth Tournaments
The state runner-up team at Kaukauna in April was senior-dominated, but Dixon explained she does have a few starters returning.
“We have Mary Satori back. She’s a four years starter and four year letter winner for us,” Dixon explained. “Brianna Mcdonnell played front row, three rotations for us last year…and our other one that’s returning is Ashlyn Dymerski who is battling for the libero position.”
In addition, Jenna Miller returns after recovery from a gymnastics injury, along with 4-sophomores who are being counted on to contribute.
Dixon explained she loves coaching, but added, “Sometimes I don’t like girl drama. Anyone who’s had girls knows there is girl drama, and we just had a discussion on that…There’s a lot of life lessons that go into coaching as well as wins and losses.”
The Ships travel to Sheboygan North for their league opener tonight (September 9th).
