CL team on verge of a breakthrough

(Above) Clear Lake’s Julia Merfeld gets ready to set the ball to Maranda Harrison during Tuesday night’s game against St. Edmond.  Also pictureed is Mikayla Vanderploeg.  -Reporter photo by Chris Barragy

After jumping out to a 3-3 start to the season, the Clear Lake volleyball team finds itself at 3-9, but on the verge of breakthrough, according to Coach Richie Ellis. Last week the Lions dropped their first two games to St. Ed’s, but then rallied to push a deciding fifth game.  Days later they pushed Crestwood, but couldn’t break through.

“I know I sound like a broken record, but when this team starts believing in their abilities and that they can and deserve to win, things will turn around,” said Ellis.

St. Ed’s 3, CL 2

The Lions began to show their development with an impressive comeback against Fort Dodge St. Edmond on Tuesday, Sept. 12.

According to Coach Ellis, the team came out slow and sluggish and as a result dropped the first two sets, 25-18 and 25-12.

“Our hitters struggled these sets and committed too many hitting errors,” said the coach.

The girls rebounded well, though, by coming from behind in the third set to pull out a tight 26-24 win.

“That win gave us a lot of momentum four the fourth set which we dominated, 25-9,” added Ellis.

However, the Lions came up

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short in the third set and dropped it, 15-10.

“I felt the girls made some positive adjustments to come back after going down two sets.  That took a lot of mental toughness, which has been our downfall so far.”

The coach praised the play of Maranda Harrison, who had a nice night with 12 kills and 11 digs.  She was also 17/18 from the service line with two aces.  Sara Faber was also a force at the net with nine kills.

The Lion defense played very well, led by Chloe Mueller with 22 digs.  She was also a strong contributor on offense, going 16/17 at the service line with one ace.

Serving was strong across the board for the Lions.  The team finished at 97 percent with six aces.  Macy Mixdorf was a perfect 16/16, Jenna Wilkinson 15/15 and Kayla Ritter 10/10.  Julia Merfeld was 16/17 serving.

Crestwood 3, CL 0

The Lions got off to a better start, but fell on the road at Crestwood (5-7), 25-20, 25-15, 28-26.

“We came out a lot better this time, playing with more energy early on.  The girls are competing every night out and are so close to breaking out. They work so hard and deserve to win,” said Coach Ellis.

The Lions had difficulty stopping Crestwood’s Shannon Pinsey during the first two sets.  Pinsey propelled the Cadets with 20 kills in the win over the Lions.  The all-around player also made 10 digs and was 16/16 serving.

Maranda Harrison was the team leader in kills with eight.  Macy Mixdorf and Kayla Ritter followed with seven and six respectively.  Mikayla VanderPloeg put down four kills and Sara Faber had three.

Julia Merfeld set up the offense with 24 assists.  She was also 11/11 from the service line with an ace.

Defensively, Chloe Mueller was credited with 21 digs.  She was also flawless at the service line, going 17/17.

Jenna Wilkinson was 8/8 serving.  Mixdorf was 7/7 and Ritter went 9/11 with an ace, and Harrison was 7/9 serving.

“Once again, we rebounded well after dropping the first two sets to take the third set to extra time, but losing a tight set 28-26,” explained Ellis.  “We are so close.  If we can just clean up a couple small things here and there, I know we can pick up some wins.”

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