Clea Lake volleyball team falls to Webster City; tops St. Ansgar

The Clear Lake volleyball team broke into the win column last week by defeating St. Ansgar at Saturday’s Mason City Tournament.  The week of action also included a North Central Conference match with Webster City.  The Lions are now 4-20 overall and 0-6 in the NCC.  Thursday the Lions will host Iowa Falls-Alden for an NCC match.  Saturday they are at Algona for a weekend tournament.  Clear Lake’s first post-season match will be played against Garner-Hayfield-Ventura Wednesday, Oct. 18, at GHV.

Webster City 3, CL 0

The Lions played three competitive games at Webster City (2-4 in the NCC), but couldn’t overcome the Lynx, 25-20, 25-20, 25-10.

According to Coach Richie Ellis, his team started out a little flat offensively.

“Our back row passing was spot on, but our hitters were off and had too many errors that we were not able to recover from,” said Ellis.

Sara Faber led the Lions’ attack at the net, putting down 10 kills.  Maranda Harrison had five and Macy Mixdorf recorded four kills.

Jenna Wilkinson paced the team at the service line, scoring on 13 of 13 attempts.  Julia Merfeld was also in double digits serving, going 10/10.  Mixdorf was 8/8 with the Lions’ only ace.  Chloe Mueller was 6/6 and had a team-high 13 digs.

Mason City Tournament

The Lions faced St. Ansgar, Waverly-Shell Rock and Humboldt in a Saturday tournament at Mason City.

In the opening match the Lions got by St. Ansgar, 2-1.  Game scores were 21-19, 17-21, 15-10.

“The girls showed up ready to play and we continued to play well in all parts of the game,” said Coach Ellis.  “Sara Faber was really hitting the ball well.”

Faber crushed 10 kills in the match.  Kayla Ritter and Mikayla Vanderploeg had five kills apiece.  Vanderploeg was also credited with two blocks.

Macy Mixdorf and Jenna Wilkinson each made eight digs, while Chloe Mueller had six and Julia Merfeld finished with five.

The team served at 94 percent, led by Wilkinson (5/5), Mixdorf (6/6) and Mueller (8/8).  Maranda Harrison and Merfeld were each 10/11 at the service line.  Harrison had two aces.  Ritter was 13/14 at the line.

It was difficult to get anything going against perennial 4A power Waverly-Shell Rock.  The Go-Hawks won, 21-4, 21-10.

“We were simply outmatched by a very big, strong team,” said Ellis.

Harrison led the Lions in kills with three.  Ritter and Vanderploeg each had two.  Mueller and Mixdorf had four and three digs respectively.  The team served at 100 percent, but only had 15 serves in the match.  Harrison, Merfeld, Ritter and Wilkinson each went 3/3 serving.

The Lions ended the day playing North Central Conference rival Humboldt.  The Wildcats were on their game and swept the Lions, 21-10, 21-14.

Faber and Mixdorf proved some punch for the offense with four kills apiece.  Ritter had three, while Harrison and Vanderploeg each had two.  Mixdorf also led the team in digs with seven and serving, where she was 8/8.  Ritter was  right behind, serving 7/7 with the teams’ only ace.

“We need to focus on getting ready for our first round game vs GHV next week, so playing these good teams only makes us better prepared for tournament time,” added Coach Ellis.