Clear Lake volleyball game goes 0-5 on the week

(Above) Sara Faber gets a block during Thursday night’s game against IF-A.  -Reporter photo by Chris Barragy

By Michelle Watson

It was a tough week for the Clear Lake volleyball team, falling to Iowa Falls-Alden and going 0-5 at a tournament held on Saturday.  The losses moved the Lion’s record to 7-19.

IF-A 3, Clear Lake 1

The Clear Lake girls gave it their all on Thursday night when they faced Iowa Falls-Alden at home.

The Lions dropped the first two games of the night with scores of 25-18 and 25-16.  The team made some adjustments for the final two matches, winning the third game, 25-22, before dropping the final hard-fought game, 25-22.

“Although we fell short on a win, I was super proud of the way the girls competed tonight,” said Coach Heather Johnson.  “We put in work at practice on our blocking and that really showed.  It gave us that spark we needed.”

Eden Delaney had a successful night.  She had 10 kills in 24 attempts.  She also had four blocks.  She was also strong at the service line, with 20 successful serves out of 22 attempts and she had one ace.

Also collecting kills for the night were Kaitlyn Vanderploeg and Chelsey Holck with nine apiece, Sara Faber had eight and Allexa Whitehouse put down seven.

Julia Merfeld led the team in assists with 38.

Faber and Kennedy Kallenbach led the team on defense with 25 and 21 digs respectively.

Vanderploeg had four blocks and Merfeld and Whitehouse had three apiece.

Ali Maulsby had a perfect night at the service line, serving 15/15.  Merfeld was 16/17, Holck was 11/11 and Faber was 9/10.

Mason City Tournament

The Lions played hot and cold when they competed in the Mason City tournament on Saturday.  The team just couldn’t secure a win, as they dropped five matches.

“We have some work to do on our consistency,” said Coach Johnson.  “When we pass well and get our middles involved, we run an effective offense.”

The team was swept by Mason City, Waverly-Shell Rock, Osage and Humboldt.  They picked up one game against Central Springs, but dropped the other two.

Leading the way in kills was Kaitlyn Vanderploeg with 17 on the day.  Eden Delaney was close behind with 16, while Sara Faber and Chelsey Holck had 14 and 12 kills on the day.

Julie Merfeld was busy setting up all those kills with a total of 59 assists for the day.

Kennedy Kallenbach led the team in digs with 22, followed closely by Faber with 21.  Ali Maulsby also had a good day with 18 total digs.

Leaders at the service line included Ali Maulsby, with 29 successful serves on the day, Delaney had 28, while Holck had 25 and Faber and Kallenbach had 22 and 17 respectively.

“The good news from this day is that we have very coachable kids and hopefully we can get some good work in at practice this week to boost us into the last part of our season,” said Johnson.