Lions fall to Humboldt and Forest City

(Above) Grace Meyer gets a hit for the Lions. -Reporter photos by Chis Barragy

by Marianne Gasaway

The Clear Lake volleyball team ran into some roadblocks last week, dropping a conference match to 14th ranked (4A) Humboldt and non-conference contest to Forest City.  

Clear Lake is now 8-12 overall and sits in the middle of the North Central Conference pack with a 2-1 record.  This week the Lions will travel to Webster City Thursday to take on the 16-6, 3-1 Lynx.  Saturday Clear Lake will compete in the Mason City Tournament. They are scheduled to take on Central Springs (17-8) and the host Mohawks (7-14).

Humboldt 3, CL 0

Humboldt, 21-4 overall and 3-0 in the NCC, notched a 3-0 victory over the Lions Tuesday, Sept. 28.  Scores were 25-13, 25-18, 25-16.

“Humboldt is a very solid, consistent team.  They play good defense and don’t make a ton of unforced errors which is why they top our conference- nothing flashy, they just get the job done,” said Clear Lake Coach Heather Johnson.  “Throughout the night, we just really struggled to get our offense going.  I thought defensively we did a good job, we just couldn’t translate it into points.  Our block came through big at times, which was nice to see, but it was a tough match for us.”

Hannah Blaha had a good night for the Lions.  The junior led the team with four kills and five block assists.  She also went 12 for 12 at the service line with two aces.

Xada Johnson and Emily Theiss finished with three kills apiece against the Wildcats. Theiss also had one solo block and three block assists. 

Johnson led the team in digs, with 11.  Jaden Ainley had 10 digs.  

Forest City 3, CL 0

The Lions have Forest City a strong test Thursday, Sept. 30, but the Indians (16-8) swept the match. 

The Indians squeezed by in the early going, 27-25 and 25-22, then sealed the win, 25-15, in the third.

“Our goal is to sustain our level of competition for longer periods of time throughout a match. We still aren’t there yet, as I know that we can compete and win many matches that we are falling short on. Tonight was no exception,” said Coach Johnson.  “We still struggle at times to play aggressively when the game gets close by not attacking and giving the opponents too many free balls.  There were times that I thought we hit aggressively, but it wasn’t enough.”

The coach highlighted the play of senior Autumn VanHorn, saying she had her best match of the season with four kills, no errors and four blocks.  “That was nice to see after missing the beginning of the season,” she said.

The program celebrated with its nine seniors before the match.

“I have coached this group at various times throughout their volleyball careers- seventh grade, junior varsity and varsity levels.  This group can be so competitive and it has been a privilege to watch them grow!”

Playing in their last 

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home match were seniors Summer Froiland, Emily Theiss, Jaden Ainley, Grace Meyer, Emeny Brattrud, Layne Lester, Skyla Geitzenauer, Ashlyn Fread and Autum VanHorn.

Fread and Theiss led the team in assists with 17 and 10 respectively.  Meyer put down five kills to help the team and Ainley finished with 11 digs.

Sophomore Xada Johnson had the most kills with 13, while junior Ava Richtsmeier had five.

Johnson was also the team leader in digs with 17 and serving, going 12 for 12 with two aces.  

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