Clear Lake volleyball team finishes .500 at first tournament

The Clear Lake volleyball team kicked off the season on a positive note.  The Lions, coming off a 9-22 record last year, finished a .500 at their first tournament of the 2017 season.  The team went 3-3 competing at Clarion-Goldfield Saturday, Aug. 26.

The Lions topped Eagle Grove (2-0), Harris-Lake Park (2-1) and CAL, Latimer (2-0).  They dropped matches, but won a game, to North Butler (1-2) and South Hamilton (1-2).  Host Clarion-Goldfield was the only team to blank the Lions, 2-0.

“All in all, I was very pleased to come away 3-3 on the day,” said first year Coach Richie Ellis.  “I was really pleased with the way we handled the mental part of the game that we have been preaching to the girls all season.  No matter what the scores were, we handled ourselves very well. Saturday was a very good measuring stick for us to evaluate where we are. I feel we are ahead of where I anticipated us to be at this point so that is very positive.”

Ellis said problems arose recording statistics for the team and none were available for his report.

“We really didn’t have any stand out performances.  We have a very balanced team and it showed Saturday.  Our passing improved as the day went on, led by our Libero Chloe Mueller and setter Kaylee Nosbisch. This gave us the opportunities to spread out our attacks to all of our hitters.”

This week the Lions will host the Algona freshmen, junior varsity and varsity teams for North Central Conference matches Thursday starting at 6 p.m.  The varsity teams are expected to take the court at 7:30 p.m.