While the Cleveland girls were hoping to put a hex on the Mayer Lutheran on Halloween night in St. Peter, like they have in all four prior meetings, the Crusaders swept the Clippers, this time to win the section.
But the Clippers did frighten the Crusaders early on, holding them to a tie midway through game one and finishing within four points, but that was the best they could do, and the Crusaders were all tricks and not much for treats after as they dominated games two and three.
“We put so much into that first set,” said head coach Dave Nixon. “We knew we had to win one of the first two sets. To pull an upset, you almost have to win that first set. We really battled; we were right there. I’m really proud of our team. That first set could have gone either way.”
The 25-21 loss in game one was the narrowest the Clippers ever have had against the Crusaders in their four prior meetings. The Clippers went in front 4-3 after Savannah Meyer followed an Anika Sathoff kill with an ace serve.
The Clippers kept the 2-point advantage after Ava Hahn lasered a diagonal kill and the Crusaders couldn’t put together a return. The Crusaders scored on a kill, but the net helped a Hahn roll fall to the Crusader side of the court, and the Clippers led 7-5.
Mayer laid down a kill and sent over an ace serve, but the Clippers got the lead back with a Taylor McCabe kill. The Clippers suffered a net infraction, but the Crusaders errored twice after with double touch infraction and a hit out of bounds that put the Clippers back on top, 10-8.
With a Sathoff kill after the Crusaders scored on a Clipper carry infraction and an ace serve, the Clippers hung around a little longer, going up 11-10 . But two more kills put Mayer in front 12-11. A Hahn kill tied the game, and after another Crusader kill, a serve out of bounds knotted the game 13-13, but the Crusaders broke away for the next four points: three kills and an ace block and never trailed from there.
Jocelyn Bartell’s kill that brought the Clippers within two, 22-20, was the last Cleveland winner, and the game ended 25-21 on an ace block.
After kills by Melia Sathoff and Hahn, the Crusaders tipped over four-straight winners to lead game two 9-2. Leading 15-10, they scored the final 10 points with the game ending when the Clippers hit the ball into the net.
Game three was similar with the Crusaders, up 5-4, scoring 13 of the next 14 points, 10 on winners. The game ended 25-15 when the Clippers were flagged for a carry.
“They served tough, and they really challenged you, and we were out of system a lot,” Nixon said.
Hahn had 11 kills, 17 digs and one ace serve. Melia Sathoff had three kills, two assisted ace blocks, eight digs and one set assist. Anika Sathoff had five kills, one dig and one ace serve. Bartell had two kills and two ace block assists. Taylor McCabe had two kills and one ace block assist. Jocelyn Kortuem sent over one kill and lifted one dig. Sophie Perkins set 21 assists, raised 10 digs, assisted on one ace block and swung for one kill. Meyer scooped 11 digs, set up two points and sent over a pair of ace serves. Lacey McCabe scraped five digs.
The last time the Crusaders lost in the sections was in 2017. Before that, it was in 2014. Both losses were to WEM before it went up a class. Before that, Mayer Lutheran was in section 4A.
The Clippers’ closest set when they lost to the Crusaders in both the 2021 section championship and the 2022 section championship was 25-20. When the Clippers fell to the Crusaders in the section quarterfinals in 2019, their best set was a 25-19 loss. Earlier this season, they also took a set against the Crusaders to 20 points.
It was the last high school volleyball match for seniors Bartell, Hahn, Lacey McCabe, Perkins, Maya Lassiter, Addi Holden and Evelyn Keltgen.
“We have eight great seniors,” Nixon said. “We’ll miss them. It’s always hard losing in playoffs, because you don’t get to come back to practice. You do it for two and a half months, and you do it every day, and it makes it hard to be done.”
Despite the loss, the Clippers had a superb 23-9 season, overcoming a slow start and a narrow loss to Alden-Conger in the de facto conference championship to go on to upset Spring Grove and win the Goodhue tournament. They also upset Buffalo Lake Hector Stewart to get back to the section championship after falling in the section quarterfinals a year ago.
Above: The Clippers with their runner up trophy. The are, from L-R, assistant coach Bree Meyer, Kaitlyn Flowers, Melia Sathoff, Anika Sathoff, Taylor McCabe, Lacey McCabe, head coach Dave Nixon, Savannah Meyer, Jocelyn Bartell, Ava Hahn, Delaney Thompson, Maya Lassiter, Sophie Perkins, Addi Holden, Luci Blaschko, Keira Schipper, Evelyn Keltgen, Jocelyn Kortuem, Valentina Rohlfing, Mailie Meissner and managers Mollie Bowman and Olivia Reinhardt.
