Reflecting the outcome when the Cleveland girls fell 3-1 in Alden earlier in the season, for the Clippers to repeat as Valley Conference champions on Thursday, they either needed to beat visiting Alden-Conger in three-straight sets or win three of four sets with a point differential of 14 or more.
The Clippers avenged their only season loss in five sets, 25-27, 25-21, 25-23, 15-5, but instead of a second place and what likely will be the best record in the conference (they played more games than A-C), they will officially end up third in the two-division Valley if they beat LCWM tonight (Friday).
The Clippers defeated second in the Valley Conference West LCWM 3-0 earlier in the season. Nicollet, which has four losses including one to the Clippers but still won the West, will take on A-C—which won the East over Cleveland—in the overall conference championship.
While it was a parents only crowd, the decibel level in the Cleveland gym was high, adding to the excitement of a match many thought might not take place at all. As it is, section play is canceled.
“I’m glad it didn’t end on Tuesday,” said head coach Bree Meyer. “I am glad we got to play them again. Now we get to end at Lake Crystal and end with a happy note. Yes, everyone is kind of bummed, but we are fortunate we had a season.”
“It was fun,” said Emily Kern, who ended the night with 27 kills and five ace blocks. “Everyone was really excited, and I think that was a big reason why we beat them. And we had a different rotation. In Alden we were just trying things out. Now we have had more games to figure our rotation out, and that helped us a lot.”
Fired up from the get go, the Clippers jumped out to a 5-1 lead in game one. Winners came from a Zoe Porter ace serve and a pair of Kern kills. After Cleveland missed a serve and four kills all in a row, A-C pulled ahead 10-8 on a kill, but after that, the Knights missed four straight hits, and with a Halle McCabe kill, the Clippers were ahead 13-10.
The Knights worked their way back to tie the game at 17 and later went up 21-18 on two winners and two Clipper errors. With kills by Kern and McCabe, the Clippers knotted the game at 23. McCabe’s kill put the Clippers up 25-24, but the Knights got the next two points and then laid down a kill for the triumph.
“We should have had that,” Kern said, but I knew we were going to be able to come back.”
The Clippers were a bit sloppy at the start of game two and found themselves down 13-9. With an A-C push into the net, it was a 15-15 tie, but the Knights scored the next five points.
From there on out it was all Clippers though with Kern and Grayce Kortuem each smacking three kills, Laci Hollerich paddling one kill and Harley Connor posting up an ace block. The game ended with a Knight hit out of bounds.
Alden-Conger tied game three on three occasions and pulled ahead 21-20 after a pair of Clipper blocks ricocheted out of bounds. But after a Kortuem kill, the Clippers worked the ball to Kern. The Knight defense dug up some of her hits, but mixing in tips on second chances, she scored the last four points for the Clippers and ended the game on an attack.
Up 5-4, the Clippers lost the lead in game four on five-straight Knight points and never got it back. It ended on an ace tip.
But the rubber game was all Clippers, and like after the first game, Kern was confident the Clippers would bounce back.
“Everyone was cheering, and I knew we were going to win.”
Two Kern kills put the Clippers up 3-2, and they never looked back, scoring the last six points, two from McCabe kills and one from a McCabe block. The game ended on a Knight hit out of bounds.
McCabe had a dozen kills. Kortuem had six kills. Hollerich made three kills, and Connor had one kill. Taylin Gosch passed 44 set assists and had four ace blocks.
Emma Sweere scraped 31 digs. Kern had 21 digs. Jordyn Klingel pulled up 11 digs. McCabe scooped nine digs. Porter had nine digs. Sweere landed all 18 of her serves.
With the Knights solid on the serve receive, Cleveland only had two ace serves, one from McCabe and one from Klingel. The Clippers missed 10 serves, not bad for them in five sets.
Afterwards, the Clippers honored seniors McCabe, Serena Williams and, via live stream, Brianna Connor, who was still cooped up at home. It was also an impromptu parents night.
In a battle for Conference third place, Cleveland travels to Lake Crystal for their last game of the season tonight. The first serve is at 6:00 pm.
Halle McCabe drops in an ace tip.
Taylin Gosch goes up for a block.
Zoe Porter pulls up a dig.
Emily Kern and Laci Hollerich battle at the net.
Emma Sweere had 31 digs.
Grayce Kortuem keeps the ball alive at the net.
Brianna Connor was honored on senior night via livestream. Classmates Halle McCabe and Serena Williams are on the left.
Made up of Cleveland parents, the crowd was small but loud.