Including three times for the section championship, the Clipper varsity girls have met perennial powerhouse Mayer Lutheran on six occasions since their first encounter back in 2019.
Since then, the Clippers have chipped away at the Crusaders. Last year in Cleveland, the Clippers got within two points of a game one win and within four of a victory in game two, but, like all the rest of the meetings, fell 3-0.
But this year, back in Mayer on September 15, the Clippers, ranked two in state Class A, took games two and three and were leading late in game four before the fourth-ranked Crusaders mounted a comeback to down the Clippers 3-2.
While the loss didn’t sit well with the Clippers, head coach Dave Nixon was proud of the girls’ accomplishment.
“We did let it slip away in the fourth set, so there’s disappointment, but with that there was confidence we can play at this level, and that’s what we are going to try to take home from this match, but what a great match by two really good teams. I’m really proud of the fight we put up tonight.”
Nixon said a team like Mayer Lutheran is not going to go away easily. Although they came into the match with a 4-6 record, three of their losses were to Class 4A schools, two of them to Class 3A schools, and one of them to a Class 2A school
“They have so many weapons offensively. They’re all six foot, and they can attack. Their record doesn’t show how good they are because they played some really good competition. They’ve probably been in that situation more than we have. In my opinion, because they played so many ranked teams, we’re still looking up at them.”
With game one deadlocked 3-3, the Clippers went on a four-point spurt starting with a Taylor McCabe ace tip and including a Delaney Thompson ace serve, a McCabe kill and another Thompson service ace.
After a Mayer kill, the Maile Meissner got into the action with an ace tip, and McCabe swatted another kill for a 9-4 orange & black advantage.
Taking advantage of Clipper errors, the Crusaders worked their way back though, and after a McCabe ace tip and a Lutheran tip into the net, they rallied for the next six points to lead 15-13.
The Clippers hung around for a while but never got the lead back, and with three-straight winners, the victory went to the home team, 25-18.
Game two was a marathon. It looked like the Clippers would lose it when, after three-straight Melia Sathoff kills for a 12-10 Clipper lead, the Crusader, on the warpath, posted 15 of the next 18 points to lead 21-15.
A lot of game remained though, a whole lot, and with a Meisner ace block and winners from Sathoff, the Clippers managed to deadlock the game at 24. The Crusaders demonstrated their prowess when they set up their offense well to win the next point, but with a Sathoff kill, the Clippers escaped game point, and, following up, McCabe stretched for an ace block for a 26-25 Clipper lead.
The Clippers lost an opportunity on the next point when their serve zipped out of bounds, and with a Clipper hit out of bounds on the next point, it was back to ad-in Mayer.
But Mayer’s ensuing serve crashed into the webbing for a 27-27 stalemate. With back-to-back McCabe kills, the first one a deep hit and the second one into a block that didn’t work, it was game point Clippers.
Mayer followed with a kill though for a 29-29 deuce, but they sent another serve into the net before McCabe came up with a kill from the back row for the first game win the Clippers have had against the Crusaders after six prior meetings.
With a Sathoff kill, the Clippers took the first point of game three and never trailed. Kenzie Kortuem’s kill put the Clippers in front 25-17 before the game ended on the next point when the stunned Crusaders got flagged for a double hit.
“After losing that first set, we hung in there,” Nixon said. “We had to come back late to steal that set and really battled. Winning that second set really helped going into the third set.”
Up two games to one, the Clippers wanted to keep the momentum going and did for a while in game four. With the game tied 3-3, an Aubrey Blaschko kill started a six-point Clipper rally. The Crusaders pushed over a winner, but Blaschko sent over another kill, Kaitlyn Flowers served up an ace, and Sathoff smacked a winner for a 12-4 Clipper lead.
But the Crusaders were too seasoned of a team to surrender and worked their way back, pulling within a point, 17-16 when a Clipper hit struck the net. Sathoff sent down a hit for the next point, but the Crusaders put together a kill of their own, and the Clippers shanked the ensuing serve for an 18-18 tie before the Crusaders went ahead on a Clipper back-row attack infraction.
Following up with three-straight kills and an ace block, the Crusaders dominated down the stretch and, on a kill, won 25-20.
“We were in control and we just lost control,” Nixon explained. “We just couldn’t side out enough. In that situation, you want to be able to first ball side out, just get a kill on the first swing so you don’t give them opportunities, but we gave them too many opportunities at crunch time and just have to be a little bit better. We gave them everything we could for three and a half sets.”
Jocelyn Kortuem blocked an ace for the first point of the rubber game, but the Crusaders rallied for the next six points, and, full steam ahead, won 15-7 after a Clipper hit out of bounds.
“That was big for their confidence to get ahead in the fifth,” Nixon said.
Sathoff hit 28 winners, served for three points—enough for a new school career record—and set two points. On defense, she had seven digs and three ac block assists. McCabe totaled 15 kills, one set assist, four ace block assists, 14 digs and one ace serve. Keira Schipper had one kill, one set assist, one dig and one ace block assist. Aubrey Blaschko had six kills, one dig and four ace block assists. Kenzie Kortuem had one kill, four digs and seven ace block assists. Jocelyn Kortuem set up 52 points and had three kills of her own. She scraped 17 digs, assisted on three ace blocks and served one ace. Thompson scooped 30 digs and dispatched two ace serves. Luci Blaschko had four digs and one ace serve. Liviana Lee had one dig and one ace block assist. Meissner had for kills, one dig, one solo ace block and five ace block assists. Flowers had one set assist, five digs and two ace serves.
“We gave it a real good fight,” Nixon said. “We’re doing a lot of good things. Against a team like that, if you control the block, and they don’t get an opportunity to dig and set and hit it, that’s when we would go on a run.”
Nixon said the Clippers did a great job tooling the block (hitting so the ball caroms off the block and out of bounds or swinging with high hands and sending the ball back deep).
“Melia and Taylor did a great job tooling the block. We did that a number of times on the right side as well. Aubrey did a great job tooling. They started blocking us more in that run and in the fifth set, and we just have to execute better, pass, set and attack and get out of each rotation.”
Cleveland 3, Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman Martin Luther 0, September 18
The Clippers didn’t waste a ton of time getting a game back in the win column when they downed visiting Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman Martin Luther 25-13, 25-14, 25-13.
McCabe hit the first winner in game one and followed with two more for a 3-2 lead. After a Sathoff kill put the Clippers in front 24-12, the Jaguars came up with a kill before serving out of bounds.
On an ace serve, an ace block and a kill, the Jags posted the first three points of game two. Jocelyn Kortuem’s hit got the Clippers on the board. McCabe followed up with a kill, and the Jaguars couldn’t get to Sathoff’s short serve to stalemate the game 3-3.
The Jaguars came up with a kill to go ahead 4-3, and later tied the game 5-5, but the Clippers scored six of the next seven points to start breaking away. Aubrey Blaschko’s kill put the Clippers in front 23-14 before the game ended on a four-hit infraction.
Aubrey Blaschko’s kill was the first point of game three. Jocelyn Kortuem airmailed a service ace, and McCabe pounded a winner to put the Clippers in front 4-0. Kenzie Kortuem’s kill for a 23-12 advantage was the last Clipper winner. The Jaguars errored twice from there.
McCabe totaled 13 kills, five digs, two ace block assists and one ace serve. Sathoff had seven kills, four digs, one ace block assist and one ace serve. Schipper had two kills and one set assist. Aubrey Blaschko had eight kills, one dig, one ace block assist and one set assist. Lee had two kills and three digs. Kenzie Kortuem had one kill, one solo ace block and one ace block assist. Ava Kluntz had one kill and one dig. Jocelyn Kortuem set up 28 points and had six kills, two digs and six ace serves. Flowers had six set assists, one dig and one ace serve. Thompson had 12 digs and one set assist. Sierra Lotspeich had one set assist, one dig and two ace serves. Luci Blaschko had one ace serve. Cheyenne Lotspeich had one ace serve. Amelia Chmiel had one dig. Anna Lamont had one dig. Meissner had one ace block assist.
The Clippers went on to beat host Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s on September 21 and win four of five matches in a Class A tournament at the Midwest Volleyball Warehouse in Burnsville over the weekend (see upcoming story for those matches).
Above: Taylor McCabe stretches for a dig during the match at Mayer.
The Clippers had a giant front row to deal with at Mayer. Here, Jocelyn Kortuem stretches for a set.
Luci Blaschko dives to keep the ball afloat at Mayer.
Melia Sathoff set a new school career total ace serves (212) during the match in Mayer.
It was ninja night in the student section at Mayer.
Aubrey Blaschko passes along the net during the game against GHEC/T/ML.
Amelia Chmiel on the dig during the GHEC/T/ML game.
The GHEC/T/ML game was tie-dye night for the girls. They are, from L-R, front row: Aubrey Blaschko, Jocelyn Kortuem, Amelia Chmiel, Delaney Thompson, Cheyenne Lotspeich, Luci Blaschko, Kaitlyn Flowers and Anna Lamont. Back row: Keira Schipper, Ava Kluntz, Sierra Lotspeich, Liviana Lee, Kenzie Kortuem, Melia Sathoff, Taylor McCabe and Maile Meissner.