By Ryan Murken
Your Prep Sports

TIFFIN – Clear Creek Amana got an up close look at how disruptive Western Dubuque can be at the net in last week’s WAMAC Tournament.

The Clippers got a resounding reminder of that on Wednesday.

Western Dubuque had seven ace blocks and limited Clear Creek Amana to 19 kills in a 25-13, 25-17, 25-13 win in a Class 4A, Region 7 opener in Tiffin.

“We knew that they were going to be a good blocking team, we expected that,” Clear Creek Amana senior Mckenzie Justice said. “They were just completely on fire tonight.”

Western Dubuque improved to 19-13 with its second win in eight days over the Clippers and advanced to the Region 7 semifinals where it will face Independence on Tuesday.

Clear Creek Amana ended its season at 21-20.

“They are a good team, they didn’t get third in that division for no reason,” Clear Creek Amana coach Jackie Clubb said. “Playing against an experienced team like that was difficult for us.”

Junior Regann Pfeiler had a match-high eight kills to lead Western Dubuque while Elayna Bahl and Megan Frommelt each added five kills.

It was what the Bobcats did defensively at the net that set the tone for the match.

Bahl had four of the Bobcats seven ace blocks as Western Dubuque made things difficult for the Clipper hitters all match.

“That has kind of been one of our strengths this year is our block and we work on that every practice,” Western Dubuque coach Megan Scherrman said. “That is one thing that I told our girls tonight that I thought was really great tonight was our block.”

Western Dubuque took control of the opening set with a 7-1 run that turned a 7-6 lead into a 14-7 cushion.

The Bobcats scored nine of the final 11 points in a 25-13 win in the opening set.

“I don’t think they did anything we weren’t expecting. I think it was just a little too much too fast,” Clear Creek Amana senior libero Sheyanne Koethe said. “We weren’t our full selves and we could have played a lot faster.”

Clear Creek Amana started quickly in the second set, taking a 5-4 lead on back-to-back Shauntina Williams kills and an ace serve by Riley Hennes.

Western Dubuque responded with a seven-point run that ended with consecutive kills by Pfeiler and put the Bobcats on top 11-5.

“Managing the nerves gets difficult at this time and I think that added to the night,” Clubb said. “We had our key players not be on in the key situations and that didn’t help.”

Bahl had two of her four ace blocks in the second set, including the set clincher.

“That is probably one of the best blocking teams that we have come up against,” Justice said. “Their front row is very in sync with one another and they think ahead and they are very good at anticipating.”

Western Dubuque took a 5-2 lead in the third set and never looked back, scoring eight of the nine 10 points in a 25-13 win.

Williams led Clear Creek Amana with six kills and Helle added five and Justice three in the loss.

“We had a couple of hitters that we knew that we had to shut down on their side,” Scherrman said. “We’ve been working on that in practice and I think our girls did a great job of coming out and implementing our strategies that we had planned.”

Koethe had 20 digs for Clear Creek Amana while Zoey Boehme had 10 assists for the Clippers.

“Tonight was pretty hard,” Koethe said. “I tried to get hands on every ball but they could read our hitters and they had a strong block.”

Western Dubuque    25 25 25
Clear Creek Amana 13 17 13

(Kills-aces-blocks)
Clear Creek Amana
Sheyanne Koethe 1-0-0, Riley Hennes 2-1-0, Zoey Boehme 1-1-0, Shauntina Williams 6-0-1, Lauren Helle 5-0-1, Karsyn Stratton 1-0-1, Mckenzie Justice 3-1-0, Team 19-3-3.
Assists – Zoey Boehme 10, Riley Hennes 4, Sheyanne Koethe 1.

Western Dubuque
Maicee Pierce 0-2-0, Hanna Horsfield 1-2-0, Elayna Bahl 5-0-4, Morgan Pitz 4-2-0, Grace Burds 0-2-0, Reagan Rosalez 2-0-1, Lyndsi Wilgenbusch 3-0-0, Megan Frommelt 5-0-1, Regann Pfeiler 8-0-1, Team 28-8-7.
Assists – Morgan Pitz 20, Grace Burds 1.