Above: The sixth graders hold their first-place trophy. They are, from L-R, front row: Kenzie Kortuem (a fourth grader), Kiya Sohn, Luci Blaschko and Cassidy Otto. Back row: coach Sally Kortuem, Kayla Hoffman, Valentina Rohlfing, Anika Sathoff, Jocelyn Kortuem and Aubrey Blaschko.
Beating Belle Plaine in the championship match, the sixth grade volleyball girls won the 12-team end-of-the-season tournament, held in Cleveland’s old gym on Saturday.
Belle Plaine was the only team the Clippers lost to in the regular season.
In pool play, Cleveland started out with a 15-8, 15-9 victory over Sibley East. From there, with a rough start in the second set, they lost by points to New Prague, 15-10, 6-15. But the Clippers bounced back to easily beat Le Sueur, 15-3, 15-7.
In the first round of bracket play, the Clippers, firing on all six cylinders, beat number-one seeded St. Peter, 15-9, 15-12 before topping Belle Plaine 15-12, 15-9. Belle Plaine had won over New Prague in the other semi-final.
Coached by Sally Kortuem, the Clippers started their season on September 18 with games at Morristown. A week later, they took a road trip to Belle Plaine on Saturday where they suffered their only loss. They returned to action a day later for games at Garden City. After a week off due to quarantine, the Clippers returned to Belle Plaine last Saturday.
The fifth-grade girls, coached by Amber Palmquist, had the same schedule and were third in their end-of-the-season tournament, which was also held on Saturday in Cleveland.
The sixth-grade girls show off their trophy after the win.