Bouncing right back after a hard loss to top-ranked Mayer Lutheran last week, the visiting varsity girls upset eighth-ranked Wabasso 3-0 on Monday.
“I thought we played much better,” said head coach Dave Nixon. “One thing we talked about was being super aggressive defensively and when you like the set, take the aggressive swing and overall play well together.”
Senior strong-side hitter Ava Hahn agreed.
“I think we just learned we needed to come out with a lot more grit and energy. And we needed to come out a lot better as a team and play together a lot more and not as individuals.”
While the Rabbits had a middle sidelined, they were still competitive, said Nixon.
“They play really good defense; they’ve got a really good libero that you want to keep the ball away from. The only way you want to hit a ball at her is if you hit it really hard, and we did that.”
But the Clippers set the tone offensively when they needed to, he said.
“When we were down we just chipped away.”
Like two of the games when Wabasso came to town last year, and Cleveland also won 3-0, game one went down to the wire.
Hahn tipped over a point, but the Clippers relied on Wabasso mistakes early before the Rabbits challenged but deflected out of bounds an Anika Sathoff kill. The Rabbits errored on the following play to deadlock the game 8-8.
The score see-sawed from there. Hahn and Sathoff kept on the attack, and Savannah Meyer dished an ace serve to put the Clippers in front 16-13, but the Rabbits responded with kills to tie the game at 16 before Melia Sathoff tipped over a winner.
The score tied nine times from there. Hahn and later Taylor McCabe hit for winners to stalemate the score at 22. From there, it was who made the fewest errors before the Rabbits came up with an ace tip to tie the game at 25.
But their next hit got caught in the webbing, and the game ended 27-25 on a Hahn kill.
“It was kind of a feeling out for both teams,” Nixon said.
With the lead alternating back and forth, game two started where game one left off. McCabe hit for a pair of winners, the Sathoff sisters each added one before the Rabbits got flagged for four hits, and the Clippers went in front 10-9.
Jocelyn Kortuem touched over an ace, Sophie Perkins and Hahn swung for kills t put the Clippers up 13-11. The Rabbits scored on a kill for the next point, but it was all Cleveland after that with 11-straight points, most of them scored by Hahn and Anika Sathoff but with a Jocelyn Bartell kill in the mix.
Wabasso managed two more points, but the game ended 25-14 on a McCabe kill.
Nixon said the Clippers were the larger aggressor, and that made the difference.
“When we weren’t playing well, we survived,” Nixon said. “We had a lull but pulled it out in the end. “The first game was anyone’s game because neither team took control. It was great for our confidence to really take control in the second game.”
The Rabbits regrouped and got off to a good start in game three with an 8-1 lead. But after a Bartell kill, the Rabbits sent a pair of hits over the boundary line and the game stalemated at 19.
Down the stretch, McCabe and the Sathoffs each came up with kills. The Rabbits pulled within one on a kill, 24-23, but the match ended when they got flagged for two hits.
“We kept fighting. We kept clawing back,” Nixon said. “We missed a lot of serves, but they made some errors that helped. All you can control is how you play on your side of the net, and I thought the girls did a good job of that. “
Hahn racked up 15 kills and is just a handful away from a career 1000. Anika Sathoff had 11 kills, and Melia Sathoff had four kills. Taylor McCabe had eight kills.
“Taylor got better as the match went on,” Nixon said. “She got a lot of good blocks for us. And played well on the right side.”
But unlike in Mayer, where McCabe was the lone bright spot, a number of Clippers played well against Wabasso, he said.
Bartell sent over four kills, and Perkins chipped in a kill.
Perkins set for 37 assists. Meyer added two assists. Luci Blaschko and Hahn each had one set assist.
Hahn scooped 11 digs. Meyer excavated nine digs. Perkins had five digs. Kortuem and Blaschko each had three digs. With one dig were Anika Sathoff, Bartell, Lacey McCabe and Maya Lassiter.
Hahn had three ace blocks. Tayler McCabe had two ace blocks.
Hahn struggled at the service line but still produced four ace serves.
“I’ll get it,” she said.
Meyer and Anika Sathoff each had one ace serve. Overall, the Clippers missed 10 serves.
“When things weren’t going our way, we were working, and one things weren’t going our way, we had a ton of fun,” Nixon said.
Tonight (Thursday), the Clippers host Martin County West. The Mavericks are 10-6 overall and 2-0 in the Valley with wins over Martin Luther/GHE/Truman and Mankato Loyola.
Above: Ava Hahn joins her arms for a pass. Beside her is libero Savannah Meyer. Both of the seniors are coming up on 1000 milestones.
