Above: Lexy Waldron, Harley Connor, Ava Hahn, Greta Hahn and Emma Sweere celebrate after a Clipper point.
In a gigantic stride toward an uncontested Valley Conference title, the varsity girls defeated host Alden-Conger on Tuesday.
The win was especially remarkable as the Clippers came back to dominate the Knights after losing the first game in a venue that, with a spirited student section and an intimate setting, is difficult to play in. The Clippers have not won in the Alden gym since 2008.
They will have a chance to win the conference uncontested when they host Madelia this coming Tuesday in their last game of the regular season.
In front 22-17, the Knights assembled three-straight kills to win the first game 25-17. Sarena Remiger’s kill at point 15 was the last Clipper winner.
“I think there was a lot of nerves coming in,” said head coach Dave Nixon. “We looked a little uncomfortable, In the first set, we scored too many points for them; we just had too many errors. A team like Alden-Conger, if you are going to help them like that, they’re going to jump all over it.”
Game two swung back and forth until the 8-8 mark, but from there, it looked as if the Clipper girls had stepped into a phonebooth and put on capes as, aided by Emma Sweere and Ava Hahn digs, they surged for nine-straight points, including a Lexy Waldron kill, a Greta Hahn ace serve, ace blocks from Melia Sathoff and Waldron and a Harley Connor kill.
“I believe in this team, and I think we believe in ourselves,” Nixon said. “We got into our offense. We knew we had way more in the tank. We knew we had to bring more, stop making errors and make the right decisions.”
“We had a little downfall but came back,” said Connor. “We were nervous. This was probably for the conference title. It was a long day at school. We saw their social media posts and it was #sinktheship, but we were like ‘this ship can’t be sunk.’ We all really wanted this game and not to tie or to share.”
But everyone doing her job made the difference, Connor said.
“Ava and Emma killed it in the back row. Melia came out really strong in the front row with Lexy and Sarena.”
The Knights made a short run down the stretch, but with another Waldron attack, the Clippers won 25-17 to even the contest at a game apiece.
Continuing where she left off, Waldron posted an ace block for the first point of game three. Sathoff served up an ace, and the Clippers set the tone for the rest of the game. The Knights squeezed in a couple of points, but the Clippers rallied for the next seven and a 9-3 advantage.
With five Sathoff kills, the Clippers kept comfortably in front, and, after a Remiger attack put the Clippers up 24-12, the game ended 25-13 after the Knights got flagged for a carry.
Being up 2-1 often makes for a difficult fourth game, but the Knights, even with their backs against the wall, didn’t put up a huge fight, and the game ended 25-15 after a Laci Hollerich kill.
“It gets loud in here," Nixon said. "They have great fan support. They always compete, they're well coached, and we knew we couldn’t let them hang around and needed to keep pushing to score and dig their attacks, and we did that tonight.”
Ava Hahn led the attack force with 16 kills. She also had three block assists. Sathoff, an eighth grader who has been integrating into the lineup, had 13 kills and a pair of blocks.
“Melia played great tonight,” Nixon said. “She has been playing well for a while, and we waited to get her comfortable playing with us and us playing with her, and she stepped up really big tonight as did a lot of players. We needed that controlled hitting on the outside, and she was able to contribute that.”
Waldron pasted eight kills, five block assists and one solo block. Remiger had six kills and three assisted blocks. Greta Hahn, Connor and Hollerich each had a pair of kills. Connor also had three block assists. Greta Hahn assisted 40 points.
Ava Hahn scraped 19 digs. Sweere hoisted 18 digs. Greta Hahn pulled up 16 digs. Savannah Meyer scooped 10 digs.
The Clippers missed 10 serves, a few too many, but the Hahn sisters and Sathoff each sent over a pair of aces.
The Knight-Clipper rivalry has been a strong one as the two teams have led the conference of late.
The Valley title eluded the Clippers a year ago when, after leading early, they lost to the Knights at home.
“That’s what Alden-Conger does,” Nixon said. “They will keep coming at you. You have to be on top of your game or they will beat you. They are not going to beat themselves.”
The Clippers defeated Alden-Conger at home back in 2019 to sweep the Valley. Two years ago, in the Covid season where the conference was divided, the Clippers split with Alden-Conger, winning their home game but losing on the road in their only conference loss. Yet, based on points against Alden-Conger, they finished third in the Valley and second behind Alden-Conger in the East sub conference.
In 2018 the host Knights easily swept the Clippers. In 2017 they did too, but on the Cleveland court.
On Monday, the Clippers travel to Le Sueur to take on non-conference LSH.
Currently 3-2 in the Valley, Madelia beat MCW, St Clair and Nicollet. They fell to Alden-Conger and LCWM. Their Tuesday game at Loyola has not been reported yet. They take on ML/GHEC/T on Friday.
The Clippers own at least a part of the conference title as of now, but they don’t want to share it, Nixon said.
“We want to win it outright. There are girls in the program who missed out on that last year.”
Sarena Remiger moves toward a Greta Hahn set.
On the other side of the bleachers from their Alden-Conger counterparts, the Clipper students brought some energy of their own in a gym that is tough on opponents.
Melia Sathoff is just an eighth grader, but she has been integrating into the varsity offense and finished the night with 13 kills.
Emma Sweere on the dig.
Savannah Meyer on the bump. Watching is Ava Hahn.