After losing game one, the B girls came back from deficits in the second game and the short game for a 2-1 triumph over host Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton on Tuesday.
“I’m proud of them coming back after being down one set,” said coach April Thompson.
JWP posted the first three points of game one and never gave up the lead. Ava Kluntz hit for the first Clipper winner. Mattea Grandaw tipped over an ace, but the Bulldogs led 7-3.
Later, Taylor Wolf served an ace, and Grandaw and Clara Hilfer swung for kills, but the game ended with a lopsided 25-13 Clipper loss.
Game two started out similarly with the Bulldogs in front 5-1 before the first Clipper winner, which came when Sierra Lotspeich shoved the ball over and down to an open slot on the JWP side of the court.
But trailing 6-4, the Clippers took the next four points and the lead. The rally ended on a Grandaw ace tip. The Bulldogs capitalized on a pair of Clipper errors and a kill to retake the lead, 9-8, but Grandaw went to work with a kill and an ace push that, with a Bulldog hit into the net in the mix, gave the Clippers an 11-9 advantage.
But six of the next seven points went to the Bulldogs, including a kill and a pair of ace serves, but they suffered errors too, and the Clippers hung around before deadlocking the game at 18 after a Natalie Flowers kill and a JWP hit into the net.
The Clippers revved up their offense from there. Grandaw struck a couple of kills, Paisley Janssen served an ace, Kluntz swung for a kill and put up an ace blook, and Lotspeich scored on a kill to put the Clippers in front 24-18.
They didn’t assemble a return on the next points, but the game ended 25-19 when the Bulldogs sent a hit past the boundary strip to tie the match 1-1.
“We’re working noon communication on the floor,” Thompson said. “The more we talk, the better we play.”
The Clippers were down early in the short set 3-1, but they stalemated the game 3-3 when the Bulldogs served out of bounds and Valentina Rohlfing jostled the ball into a vacant lot. Grandaw followed with a kill, and when a Bulldog stepped over the net line, the Clippers led 5-3.
The Bulldogs kept fighting though and dropped down hits for the next two points that, with a pair of Clipper hits into the mesh, put them back in front, 7-5.
Their next serve went into the net though, and the Clippers tied the game 7-7 after the Bulldogs shanked a Lotspeich serve, the first of three in a row for the freshman.
The Clippers never looked back from there. Lotspeich airmailed another winner from behind the service line, and with Bulldog miscues, the Clippers won the game 15-9 after the Bulldogs hit into the webbing.
Sierra Lotspeich and Kluntz both had two ace blocks and four kills. Grandaw stuffed eight kills. Hilfer and Flowers each had one kill. Cheyenne Lotspeich assisted 15 winners while her sister set up three points. Rohlfing and Lamont each added one set assist.
Lotspeich served four aces. Flowers served two aces. Hilfer and Wolf each served one ace.
Rohlfing elevated a dozen digs. Flowers had 11 digs. Lotspeich scooped six digs. Kluntz had one dig. Cheyenne Lotspeich had three digs. Janssen, Anna Lamont and Neenah Lassiter had one dig. F
The 2-0 B-squad Clippers return to action on Tuesday when they travel to Lake Crystal.
Above: Natalie Flowers bumps a pass after a libero Valentina Rohlfing rescue.
Paisley Janssen hoists a JWP serve.
Ava Kluntz stretches for a block.
Valentina Rohlfing pushes a pass forward.