Mascoutah’s Megan Lindsay left quite an impact on Indians’ volleyball

The impact of Mascoutah’s historic first trip to the state volleyball tournament didn’t hit senior Megan Lindsay until she reached Redbird Arena in Normal.

“It was nothing like I expected, it was so much more,” said Lindsay, voted by area coaches as the Belleville News-Democrat’s Large-School (Class 3A-4A) Volleyball Player of the Year. “I’d heard from other teams that it’s once in a lifetime and so cool, but it was amazing. Everywhere we went and everything we were doing, I almost had tears in my eyes.”

All along the playoff trail, as the Indians made school history by winning their first sectional and super-sectional titles and then made it to state, the players kept seeing the crowds get bigger and their support growing.

“This could be my last time as an Indian,” said Lindsay, a Murray State recruit and the school’s all-time kills leader with 932 as a four-year starter. “That’s what I kept telling myself. We’re not just some little team from a farm town any more. I think that we made Mascoutah well known in a good way — and that’s exciting, too.”

Lindsay and the Indians (34-8) finished third at the Class 3A state tournament, the highest finish by any team at Mascoutah since the softball team was fourth in 1991. Mascoutah also won a state football championship in 1979 and reached the football semifinals in 2006, but the 2015 Indians volleyball team captured the town’s attention like few teams in school history.

“That’s awesome that we gave out town something to really get behind,” Lindsay said. “I think they said out of all four classes, Mascoutah outnumbered everyone as far as attendance. I know my cousin made a four-hour drive from Carbondale to come and watch us.”

COMPETITIVE DNA

Lindsay comes from an extremely athletic family. Her brother, Zach Lindsay, is a junior baseball pitcher at Missouri-St. Louis and former quarterback at Mascoutah. Her father, Chris Lindsay, is Mascoutah’s wrestling coach and a football assistant who owns third-place and fourth-place finishes at the state wrestling tournament from his high school days. Chris Lindsay later wrestled and played football at MacMurray College.

Mascoutah coach Todd Gober saw that same intense, competitive drive out of Megan Lindsay early on.

“What a great work ethic, a hard-nosed kid and very tough,” Gober said. “She takes being pushed, and that’s a thing that I think really helps you go far in your career and will make a difference in college.

“She was constantly banged-up, she played sick through half of the playoffs. When we were in that stretch run she was battling all kinds of sickness. Against Columbia (in the sectional) she was wringing wet from the warmups and she didn’t even think about coming out.”

Gober recalled the exact moment he realized the unlimited potential Lindsay had on a volleyball court. It occurred during Lindsay’s junior season in a match against Althoff.

“Megan took over the match and she was hitting balls off players and they were bouncing into the stands,” Gober said. “She picked up the team and put it on her shoulders then. That’s when I realized this kid had the potential to be really something special.”

Lindsay is tight with all her teammates, but especially fellow seniors Maddie Nekola, Paige Weiss and Amanda Jung. Their friendship goes back to the days when they were winning diocesan championships in nearly every sport for Holy Childhood Grade School in Mascoutah.

“This is our eighth year playing together,” said Lindsay, who was also with them on the Southwest Illinois Crush club volleyball team coached by Kari Lane and Jeff Juenger. “I’ve been really blessed to have great coaches in volleyball and great teammates to push me.”

LEAVING AN IMPACT

Lindsay finished her career with 932 kills, 1,017 digs and 125 service aces.

Gober came to Mascoutah before Lindsay’s sophomore year after successful runs at Southwestern Illinois College and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. He talked about things like winning regionals and going to state despite Mascoutah not advancing past a regional since 1981.

“We listened to Coach, he pushed us to do our best,” Lindsay said.

Gober and Lindsay’s club coaches helped transition her from middle blocker to outside hitter, a position at which she excelled.

“We saw some potential with her and along with her club coaches, spent the next three year converting her to an outside hitter,” Gober said. “It seemed like she could be that type of player that can be more of a higher impact player. It does take a little bit more finesse, you have to learn how to control the ball.

“Over the next three years, wow, what an adjustment she made and she became a dominant player. She’s also got that thunderous arm that can blast through a block.”

The transition wasn’t easy, but Lindsay kept adjusting and not has added versatility for college. A more balanced attack this year helped lead to 279 kills, down a bit from the school-record 300 she had as a sophomore.

“Outside’s tough, too, but I wasn’t sure just because everything was so much different,” she said. “When I was on the outside, I was always way too early or way too late trying to get my timing down.”

Murray State set a school record with 27 victories this season, including a 21-match winning streak at home. The Murray State setter was Mater Dei graduate Sam Bedard, who finished her career second on the school’s all-time assist list with 3,601.

Another important factor in Lindsay’s decision to go there is the close proximity to a lot of her matches and Mascoutah, including fellow Ohio Valley Conference schools Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Eastern Illinois and Southeast Missouri.

“I had looked at Cornell and they had talked to me too, but once I heard from Murray ... I loved it so much,” Lindsay said.

Gober won’t soon forget Lindsay, who like her teammates helped put Mascoutah back on the metro-east volleyball map.

“She took to that coaching and that pressure well,” he said. “In practice she’d get kicked out of drill, shake her head, do her sprints, then came back in ready to take it to another level. I loved that about her.

“Those are the kinds of kids that leave a mark on a program and as a coach, you just love.”

COACH OF THE YEAR

Gober easily outdistanced the other candidates when area coaches turned in their votes for Coach of the Year. Along with presiding over the gradual success of the program, he guided the Indians to their first state tournament appearance. While the team was at the height of its excitement level preparing for the state tournament, Gober was dealing with the death of his father. He returned to coach the team to a third-place finish at state and wil lhave 12 players returning next season from his varsity roster.

This story was originally published December 15, 2015 at 2:01 PM with the headline "Mascoutah’s Megan Lindsay left quite an impact on Indians’ volleyball."