New Ulm Cathedral put up a fierce fight but fell to the visiting Clipper C girls 2-0 on Thursday.
The Clippers never trailed in game one. Both teams had trouble landing the ball inbounds early, but the Greyhounds hit the first winner before Neenah Lassiter’s kill put the Clippers in front 5-2.
With back-to-back kills and a service ace, Cathedral tangled the score 7-7, but Lassiter, Taylor Wolf and Aubrey Blaschko strung together three-straight kills, Lassiter canceled the flight of a Greyhound hit for a winner, and Clippers went ahead 11-7.
Later, Liviana Lee pushed the ball over the net onto an open spot of real estate, and Blaschko landed ace serve to put the Clippers up front 14-11. Cathedral continued to hang around though, and pulled within a point, 19-18 on an ace serve.
But the Greyhounds lost points on errors after that, and Lassiter unleashed a pair of ace serves before the game ended 25-19 when Cathedral sent a hit outside the boundary line.
Lee rolled over a winner for the first Clipper point of game two. Ava Kluntz stretched for an ace block, and Lee served an ace for a 5-3 Clipper lead. Cathedral took advantage of a couple of Clipper errors and an ace tip to pull in front 6-5, but after a Greyhound error, Anna Lamont’s kill put the Clippers back in front, 7-6.
After a trio of Greyhound miscues, a pair of Cheyenne Lotspeich ace serves and a Lamont cross-court kill, the Clippers lead 13-6. The Greyhounds made a couple of runs after that though, first pulling within three before Lamont laid down another hit for a 17-13 Clipper lead.
The Greyhounds struggled on the return after that, and the Clippers led 22-14. But Cathedral came up with a pair of winers in a 7-point spurt to pull within a point, 22-12 before serving out of bounds. The Clippers served out of bounds too, but the Greyhounds did the same again, and the game ended 25-22 on a Madison Wollschlager kill.
In a for-fun third set, the Clippers won 15-13.
Amelia Chmiel scooped up five digs in the outing. Wollschlager had three digs, and Wolf had two digs. Lamont slapped four kills, Lee had three kills and Lassiter hit for a pair of kills. Blaschko set up three points, and Chmiel set up two. Lotspeich, Lassiter and Lee each had two ace serves. Blaschko had one ace serve.
The C Clippers, coached by Bree Meyer, return to the court tomorrow (Saturday) when they road trip to New Prague for a 1:00 p.m. match at the middle school.
Above: Livianna Lee stretches for a block. Beside her are Ava Kluntz and Aubrey Blaschko.
