Congratulations to 2017 LLCC grad and former Logger Nick Maton who made his Major League Baseball debut on Monday for the Philadelphia Phillies!

The NJCAA has announced two honorees to be inducted into the NJCAA Volleyball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Former student-athlete Emily Orrick of Lincoln Land Community College and head coach Paula Wiedemann of West Plains, Missouri have been admitted to the 2021 class.

At LLCC from 2011-12, Orrick was known to be one of the most dominant volleyball players at the two-year college level. Her dedication to the sport of volleyball has earned high levels of success as a player and a coach.

Orrick began her collegiate career with the Loggers in 2011, playing for two seasons. Her accomplishments consist of a lengthy list of regional and conference selections, including: two-time NJCAA All-America honoree, two-time All-Region 24, an All-Conference selection for LLCC, and she was named the conference’s freshman of the year in 2011.

Today, Orrick continues to hold LLCC’s program records and has maintained her status as one of the best players to come out of the program. She currently holds the LLCC career record for digs with 2,048, and led the NJCAA in digs in both the 2011 and 2012 seasons. She was the first two-time All-American in LLCC history and was a valuable part of the team that led the Loggers to its first NJCAA DII Volleyball Championship appearance in program history in 2012.

Upon finishing at LLCC, Orrick went on to play for the Illinois State Redbirds. While there, she received numerous honors and proved herself an undeniable asset on the court.

Orrick went on to work for the East Tennessee State University (ETSU) volleyball staff as a graduate assistant where she earned a master’s degree in kinesiology and sports studies with a sport management focus. Following her time at ETSU, Orrick joined the University of Alabama volleyball staff as its director of operations in 2019. Orrick continues to work for the University of Alabama as the operations coordinator and assistant coach.

Jim Dietz, LLCC’s head volleyball coach, nominated Orrick for the NJCAA Volleyball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Dietz has spoken to Orrick’s abilities stating that she is the best libero to ever play at the NJCAA level.

Read more on the NJCAA.org website.

Congratulations to Jim Dietz, head coach of LLCC volleyball, on his recent milestone of 700 victories! He has now won over 700 games in his coaching career, with 487 of those victories at LLCC.

Jim Dietz, head coach, volleyball, was selected to participate in a video about Marine Corps partnerships with the American Volleyball Coaches Association and other sports organizations. The partnerships provide resources such as workshops, leadership talks and workouts.

The LLCC basketball season kicks off today! Men’s and women’s home basketball games will be livestreamed on YouTube for fans at https://youtu.be/w4aHhuUuDuU. There will be no in-person attendance at games due to COVID-19 safety protocols.

The LLCC women’s team plays today at 5 p.m. against Kaskaskia College, and the men’s team plays at 7 p.m. against Mineral Area College.

The link to watch games can also be found on lincolnlandloggers.com under the Sports tab in the schedule portion for both teams.

LLCC’s Esports Rocket League team won the title of NJCAAE national champion Tuesday night in a 4-0 match over John Wood Community College.

Members of the Loggers’ Rocket League team are Ariel Nogues of Springfield, Tyler Beck of Springfield and Sam Nuding of Rochester. They finish the season undefeated at 10-0.

This fall was the inaugural season for Loggers esports, playing the NJCAAE sanctioned games Fortnite, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Overwatch and Rocket League. The team practices and competes with college rivals from around the country in a state-of-the-art esports arena located in Cass Gym on the LLCC campus. The arena features high-tech computers and player chairs designed specifically for competitive gaming.

“We’re very proud of our inaugural season of esports,” says LLCC athletic director Ron Riggle. “The fact that we won a national championship in our first season is outstanding for our program and for our esports student-athletes.”

The Loggers’ Overwatch squad ended their season tied for fifth nationally with a 5-4 overall record. Fortnite player Jack McLaughlin of Springfield placed fifth nationally, and Durick McNear of Springfield ended with a seventh-place national finish in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

You will be able to watch the Loggers esports team on Twitch! The regular season begins Sept. 21.

• Mondays – Fortnite at 5 p.m.
• Tuesdays – Super Smash Brothers Ultimate at 5 p.m. and Rocket League at 5 p.m. (Since scheduled at the same time, one or the other will be shown; or, if possible, the match will be delayed by an hour to show one at 5 p.m. and the other at 6 p.m.)
• Thursdays – Overwatch at 5 p.m.

Twitch is a free streaming platform in which audiences, among other things, can watch esports for free. No purchase is required. The Loggers esports team will be streaming each of their matches on their Twitch channel, and when not actively competing, the channel will host player’s channels.

You can find the Loggers esports Twitch channel at https://twitch.tv/loggersesports, or if on the Twitch app via smart TV or smartphone, search for “loggersesports” at the top of Twitch’s homepage to access the channel.

Once on the channel, there are five tabs: Home, About, Schedule, Videos and Chat. If you missed a match in real time, you can catch up on recent Loggers matches on the Videos tab. The Chat tab gets you access to communicate with other spectators during the matches. This is a fun and unique way to cheer on the team, and players can see the chat after the match.

To make the most of your Twitch experience, create a free Twitch account, and be sure to follow the Loggers Twitch page by hitting the Follow button. This way, you can be notified each time the team goes live with a stream!

If you have any questions, contact dalton.mcghiey@llcc.edu.