Above: Emily Kern and Jordyn Klingel ready on defense.
Bouncing back from a narrow loss in the first game, the Clipper varsity girls went on to easily win the next three games and down Sibley East in Arlington on Tuesday.
Game scores were 26-28, 25-15, 25-9 and 25-11.
Senior middle hitter Emily Kern, who finished the night with nine kills, was confident the night would end in the Clippers’ favor, despite the sluggish start.
“That first game no one was really energized. We were all kind of slow and seemed tired, but once we started coming back at the end, then all of our energy came back.”
The Wolverines pulled ahead at the 6-6 mark in game one and were in front by six late in the game, 23-17.
“They’re a really good serving team,” Kern said.
But Jordyn Klingel laid down a kill to start a four-point Clipper spurt that ended with a serve into the webbing.
With a Klingel kill followed by a pair of Harley Connor ace tips, the Clippers knotted the game at 24, but Sibley East scored on a kill to go up by a point.
With the Wolverines serving out of bounds, and Ava Hahn smacking down a kill, the Clippers were a point away from a come-back victory, but their next serve went out of bounds, and the Wolverines followed with a pair of ace tips for the triumph.
Winning the first four points in game two, the Wolverines continued where they left off, but it was all Clippers from there, and the game ended on a Connor kill.
On a hit out of bounds, the Clippers gave up the first point in game three but took over right after that, swatting the ball all over the Wolverine side of the gym floor. The game ended on a Kern kill.
Grayce Kortuem’s kill started game four, and the Clippers never looked back, rolling to the easy win. The match ended on a Laci Hollerich ace tip.
Kortuem led the Clipper attack effort with 13 kills. Kern also had five digs. Ava Hahn had six kills and four digs. Connor had three kills and one dig. Taylin Gosch had 33 set assists, five digs and four kills.
Hollerich had three kills. Maddy Steen had two kills and one dig. Klingel had two kills. Emma Sweere had a dozen digs and one kill. Savannah Meyer had eight digs. Zoe Porter and Greta Hahn each had five digs.
In a better effort from the serving line, the Clippers only missed seven serves. Ava Han was perfect in her 20 serves with five of them aces. Gosch landed safely all 11 of her serves. Greta Hahn was nine for nine from the service line. Meyer had three service aces.
Earlier, the B squad won 25-7, 21-25, 15-12.
Serena Remiger had six kills, Lexy Waldron had four kills, Hollerich had kills, Greta Hahn had kills, six ace serves and nine digs, Sophie Perkins had 16 set-assists and a pair of blocks. Jersie Kelley had three kills and four digs. Chloe Anderson had seven digs and was 10 for 10 serving with one ace. Mariah McCabe had nine digs and two kills.
The C-squad won 25-18, 25-19, 25-20.
Cleveland varsity, 7-2 (1-0 in the Valley Conference), travels to St. Clair on Thursday. With a win over Loyola, the Cyclones are 1-0 in the Valley as well.
Libero Emma Sweere hoists a serve receive.
Taylin Gosch goes up for a block attempt.
Zoe Porter on the serve receive.
Grayce Kortuem on the attack.
From the stands, the B and C girls put energy back into the Clipper varsity. In front is Jersie Kelley.