Knights fall, Clippers sweep to repeat
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CLEVELAND -- The Cleveland Clippers were able to repeat as Tomahawk-Valley Conference Volleyball Champions after a strong 25-16, 28-26, 25-22 win over Sleepy Eye St. Mary's on Monday.
"It means a lot," Cleveland head coach Dave Nixon said. "When we won it last year, we didn't graduate anybody, so our goal was to come back and win it again."
Despite the sweep, Nixon said it never felt like the Clippers had that much of a lead.
"It didn't feel like we were up 2-0 tonight because Sleepy Eye St. Mary's played great defense," he said. "They were scrappy and they really challenged us. They put up a good block, so we had to really grit it out."
St. Mary's, for its part, performed better than its regular season match against Cleveland, but was still unable to come away with a set despite some strong pushes in the second and third sets.
"They are an exceptionally tough team to face, simply because they have so many girls that can hit," St. Mary's head coach Crissi Mangen said. "They have so many offensive threats. That really showed in our defense tonight. We had a game plan coming in to block their outsides, but we didn't do that as well as we had hoped, and then some of their other hitters picked up the slack."
Audra Hoffmann led the Knights with 14 kills and 16 digs, while Morgan Mathiowetz had 12 kills and 13 digs. Brynne Ibberson had 29 set assists and 11 digs, and Olivia Schieffert had 15 digs.
Cleveland held a consistent lead throughout the first set, as a kill by Melia Sathoff and a block by Maile Meissner giving the Clippers a 12-8 advantage. A pair of kills by Mathiowetz cut the lead down to 13-11, but Cleveland went on a 5-0 run to go up 19-12 through a St. Mary's timeout. A kill by Hoffmann kept the game at 20-15, but the Clippers closed Set 1 with a 5-1 run for a 25-16 win.
Set 2 was close early, with neither team being able to gain much of an advantage. A kill and an ace by Hoffmann saw the Clippers with a 10-9 lead, but Cleveland was finally able to distance itself with a pair of kills by Aubrey Blaschko for a 17-12 advantage. St. Mary's called a timeout down 19-13, but a block by Jocelyn Kortuem put Cleveland up 22-14. However, St. Mary's rattled off 4 points unanswered, with Hoffmann earning two more aces, to force a Cleveland timeout and continued the momentum to cut the lead down to 24-21 on an ace by Nell Weiss as Cleveland called another timeout. The Knights tied the game on a kill by Hoffmann, then went up 25-24 on another ace by Weiss.
"I think we started serving more tough," Mangen said. "We found a little more momentum, and that's what we talked about all year. We want to stay up, and we want to keep that momentum. I thought we hung around, and that was good to see."
But Cleveland rallied, taking the set 28-26 after a pair of kills by Taylor McCabe.
"They almost stole the second set," Nixon said. "We almost stole it back by surviving a set point or two from them. Winning that second set was huge, because we weren't playing our best. We didn't pass or defend as well as we normally do, and part of that was because they have two really good hitters themselves that really challenged us defensively. Everyone did their role really well for them."
Cleveland scored the first 4 points of Set 3, but St. Mary's settled down and tied the game at 12 after three kills by Schieffert and a kill by Hoffmann. A kill by Mathiowetz gave St. Mary's a 14-13 lead, but Cathedral called a timeout and went on a 6-1 run to go up 19-15.
"Just keep competing," Nixon said. "St. Mary's is going to play hard, and they know how to compete. They've had a lot of success in volleyball and other sports, and they're not going to give it to us easy. We just had to keep battling and compete for points, make it hard for them to score. There were some times when balls were dropping too easily, so we just had to keep battling and be patient. When everything was right, take a big swing, and be smart when it's not."
St. Mary's continued to fight, but a pair of kills by Hoffmann only cut the lead to 24-22 as Sathoff ended the match with a kill.
Cleveland (27-2) hosts 16th-seeded Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman/Martin Luther as the top seed in the opening round of the Section 2A Tournament next Monday, while St. Mary's (20-4-1) plays at Sleepy Eye Tuesday before hosting 14th-seeded Mountain Lake Area/Comfrey as the third seed next Monday.
"It was good to see Cleveland again," Mangen said. "The first time we played them in Sleepy Eye was not our best performance. We've been trying out a few new rotations, which I think we've found some success in. It was good to see that we hung around and played them more competitively tonight.
"Going into playoffs, everyone is on an even playing field. While we had a great season, it really all just starts again on Monday. I would love to face Cleveland again."