A Cleveland sweep over Madelia in girls varsity volleyball on Tuesday set up the de facto Valley Conference championship tonight (Thursday) when the Clippers travel to Alden to take on the Knights, 3-0 in the Valley.
Madelia started out well, swinging down hard kills to keep pace with the Clippers and led 7-6.
“Ashlynn Sweet gets up and rips the ball,” said head coach Dave Nixon. “She has 500 kills in her career. She’s their go to hitter and is super aggressive. We’ve just got to limit the number of times she can do that.”
The Blackhawks managed a couple of points the rest of the way, but the game ended 25-11 on a carry infraction.
Nixon said the Clipper offense made the difference, but that starts with the defense.
“When we were getting the ball up for Sophie (Perkins) to get the pass from the ten-foot line and in, then we were able to generate offense. When she is bump setting or way off the net, then it is much harder to get an accurate set.”
The up-front defense was also important, Nixon said.
“Our blockers did a pretty good job of getting some blocks and getting touches. If the block’s not taking some court away, then our back row defense has to rely on being in the right spot.”
The lead in game two swung back and forth. Melia Sathoff’s kill deadlocked the score at 16 before Madelia sent a couple of hits over the boundary line. The Clippers never trailed from there. The Blackhawks scored on some errant Clipper hits, but the game ended 25-22 on a Jocelyn Bartell kill from the middle.
The Clippers pulled ahead in game three when Ava Hahn dispatched a tricky serve that Madelia couldn’t get to. With a Perkins kill three points later, the Clippers were up 12-10. Hahn, Taylor McCabe, and Anika Sathoff teamed up for three-straight kills and a 24-15 lead before the game ended 25-16 on a Hahn kill.
Hahn lasered 18 kills and scooped 19 digs on the night. She now needs 106 digs to join Savannah Meyer in the Clippers’ 1000-Dig Club. Meyer added 15 digs to her resume.
Perkins hit two winners and scraped 10 digs. Luci Blaschko lifted seven digs. Moved to strong-side hitter, Melia Sathoff had six kills and also had three digs. Lacey McCabe had three digs. Jocelyn Kortuem had two digs. Taylor McCabe, who switched from right side into the middle, had six kills. Anika Sathoff, hitting from the right side instead of her usual left, had five kills. She and Maya Lassiter each chipped in a dig. Bartell had one kill, one solo ace block and one ace block she shared with Perkins.
Perkins set up 21 points. Meyer had four set assists. Hahn airmailed three ace serves, Meyer and Anika Sathoff sent two ace serves over the net. Lassiter supplied one service ace.
Since 2019, Cleveland and Alden-Conger have dueled for the conference title.
In 2019, the Clippers swept Alden-Conger in Cleveland. In the oddball 2020 season, they lost to the Knights 3-1 on the road, edged them 3-2 at home, had the best record in the Valley but still finished third. A year later in Cleveland, the Clippers won the first game, but then Emily Kern got hurt, and they fell 3-1 to take second in the Valley.
In 2022, the visiting Clippers fell hard in the first game, they came back to decisively win the next three. Last year the outcome flipped as the host Clippers won the first game by a wide margin but faded quickly from there, and the Knights took home the Valley title.
Nixon though the Knights were just as good as last year.
“They have a lot of players from last year. Their setter’s back, their outside’s back. Their middle’s back. They compete, so we’ll have to bring our A game.”
The Clippers are now 2-0 in the Valley. Alden-Conger swept Nicollet, Madelia and Martin Luther/GHEC/Truman. With wins over Loyola and ML/GHEC/T but a loss to Cleveland, MCW is 2-1. ML/GHEC/T, 2-2, beat Madelia and Loyola. Loyola, 1-2 topped 0-4 Nicollet but also fell to Madelia. Madelia, now 2-3, also won over Nicollet.
Above: Maya Lassiter on the dig
