Lions stage a comeback to defeat GHV in Regional volleyball action

(Above) GHV’s Bailee Frayne and Clear Lake’s Maranda Harrison battle for control of the ball in the first round of Regional action Wednesday night.  Also pictured for GHV is Jacki Van Oort.  On Clear Lake’s side of the net is (L-R): Julia Merfeld, Mikayla Vanderploeg, Jenna Wilkinson and Chloe Mueller. 

Clear Lake mounted a furious comeback to defeat Garner-Hayfield-Ventura 3-2 in Regional volleyball action Wednesday, Oct. 18.  

The Lions opened the match with two very close sets, but dropped both of them by scores of 20-25 and 21-25.  However, the girls responded well and made an amazing turn around to win sets three and four decisively, 25-15 and 25-17, setting up the winner-take-all fifth match.  Both teams wanted the win and the lead changed hands frequently until about the mid-point.

The Lions were down a couple of points until they rattled off a few to take the lead.

GHV then called their final time-out with Clear Lake ahead by two.

“I told the girls that if we won the next point, the match was ours.  They responded by going out and running off the final four points for the win,” explained Lions Coach Richie Ellis.  “I can’t say enough how proud of them I am. If this would have happened a month ago, I’m pretty sure the outcome would have been a lot different.”

The Lions had a very balanced attack, with four hitters in double figure kills. Maranda Harrison put down 12 kills, while Sara Faber, Kayla Ritter and Mikayla Vanderploeg each had 10.  The Lions finished with 48 kills in the win.

The Lions had 19 total blocks, led by Vanderploeg with seven assisted and one solo.  Macy Mixdorf had five block assists and Harrison, Ritter and Julia Merfeld had two block assists apiece.

“Our blocks had their hitters off balance and thinking about how to get it past us,” said Ellis.

Clear Lake served at 97 percent as a team, led by Jenna Wilkinson, who was 21/22 with two aces.  Merfeld, Chloe Mueller and Mixdorf were all perfect putting their serves in play on 19, 16 and 15 attempts respectively.  Ritter was 18/19 with four aces.  Harrison was 14/15.

Serve receive also improved for the Lions as the night went on, which allowed the team to run its offense efficiently, according to the coach.

GHV Coach Kelsey Edwards said the first two sets her team played against the Lions were their best volleyball of the season.

“The girls focused on bringing energy and communication to the match and that laid the groundwork for the physical components,” said the coach.

Admittedly, an injury to libero Ashley Markla at the beginning of the third set rattled the Cards for a bit, but they picked up momentum in the fourth set and started the fifth set strong.

“Their competing for every point showed the girls’ fight and determination and I am very proud of the way they continued to adjust and push for points,” said Edwards.

The Cards had 34 kills in the match, led by Jacki VanOort with 13 and Taylor Gerdes with 11.

VanOort was also a significant part of GHV’s 95 percent serving success. She was 25/25 at the service line with two aces.  Bretta Carolus was 20/20 with five aces, and Maddie Williams was 11/11 serving.  Bailee Frayne put in 11 of 12 serves and Morgan Ryerson was 9/10.  Jamie Hejlik was 6/6 with an ace.

Carolus, VanOort and Frayne each finished in double digit digs with 14, 13 and 10 respectively.

GHV finished the season with a final record of 8-15.  They were 3-5 in the Top of Iowa Conference.

Clear Lake (6-26) advanced to take on sixth rated Osage Tuesday evening, Oct. 24.  The winner will play at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 30, in Clear Lake against either 11th ranked Forest City or Clarion-Goldfield-Dows.