Above: Inch for inch, freshman Ava Hahn has one of the best verticals on the team. Here she posts up a block.
Valley Conference rival St. Clair put up a good fight but ultimately fell 3-0 to the visiting Clippers on Thursday.
“Tuesday we started off really slowly, and we did that again here,” said head coach Bree Meyer. “This time they (St. Clair) kept fighting. And I know they went five with JWP, and we went four with them.”
Game one was a choppy affair. The Clippers went up 3-1, but neither team had a run of more than two points after that until, down 14-16, the Clippers went on a five-point surge that featured an Emily Kern kill and a Grayce Kortuem ace tip.
Kortuem smashed another winner, and Emma Sweere served up an ace, but St. Clair errored eight times after that, and the Clippers won 25-21 when the Cyclones got caught in the net.
The first five points of game two went to the Clippers, including one on a Kortuem ace tip, one a Zoe Porter ace serve and one an Ava Hahn kill.
Putting up some effective blocks, the Cyclones caught up at the 9 mark and then went ahead 11-13 after a couple of kills. From there, it was a see-saw fight.
“They had strong servers, so our passes weren’t there, and we couldn’t run our offense as well,” Meyer said, “and they were blocking Emily.”
Kortuem swatted a couple of kills to put the Clippers up 24-23, but the Cyclones stayed alive when the Clippers got called for a carry. From there, Harley Connor slashed down a winner, but the Cyclones responded with an ace block. Finally, Hahn put the Clippers up 26-25, and the game ended on the next point with a Savannah Meyer ace serve.
Game three was another back-and-forth battle until, with the Clippers up 17-15, Kern racked up three kills in a row. The Clippers served into the net, but Kern responded with another kill.
After another Clipper serve out of bounds and a net infraction, the Cyclones were within three, 21-18, but Kern dropped in another winner, and the Cyclones biffed the next three points for the 25-18 Clipper triumph.
With 15 kills and 21 digs, Kern did everything but sing the National Anthem.
Also in the Clipper kill account was Kortuem with 10. Meyer said that Kortuem, who seems to get fired up down the stretch, liked seeing the number of her winners posted on the scoreboard.
“Grayce had a great match. She’s really come on with her hitting. She sees how many kills she has and gets excited and wants to do even better.”
Hahn with eight kills while Connor and Jordyn Klingel each with two. Taylin Gosch assisted 33 kills and had one of her own. Kortuem posted five blocks.
In the dig column Sweere had nine, Gosch had six, Porter had five, Kortuem, Klingel, Connor and Allison Jindra each had one.
The Clippers were off target with a dozen serves, but Meyer was perfect in all 14 of her attempts with three of them aces. Hahn had three aces.
The Clippers, 2-0 in the Valley, are back in action on Tuesday when they host 1-2 Martin County West for Parents Night. The Mavericks lost 3-2 to Madelia and 3-0 to LCWM but beat ML/GHEC/T 3-2, the team the Clippers will play on the road on Thursday.
Alden-Conger is 3-0 in the conference with a 3-0 win over Loyola, a 3-1 win over Madelia and a 3-0 win over Nicollet.
Emily Kern leaps high for an attack. She ended the night with 15 kills. Emma Sweere is the cover girl.
Zoe Porter on the serve.
Grayce Kortuem on the hit. She seems to get stronger as matches wind down.
The Cleveland student section looked like opening day. Their friendly encounters with their St. Clair counterparts made for an amusing evening.