Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

CORALVILLE – Following a win over Independence in its postseason opener earlier this month Clear Creek Amana coach Jackie Clubb proclaimed it was the best her team had played all season.

Clear Creek Amana was even better a few days later in a regional final sweep of sixth-ranked West Delaware.

The question for Clubb following an upset of third-ranked Marion in the opening round of the Class 4A state tournament at Xtream Arena in Coralville on Monday evening was if the Clippers had a new best performance of the season.

“Yes. No question,” Clubb exclaimed. “Yeah, it’s the best we’ve played all year.”

No one that watched eight-ranked Clear Creek Amana rally for a 19-25, 25-17, 23-25, 25-21, 15-8 win over defending 4A semifinalist Marion is going to argue with Clubb.

Clear Creek Amana had four players with double digit kills, hit .193 as a team and rallied from a two sets to one deficit for one of the biggest wins in program history in its first state tournament appearance since 2014.

“We always say to play our best games in the postseason and we seem to keep doing that,” Clear Creek Amana junior Bliss Beck said. “We are finding a way to use all of our threats and be a well-rounded team and that’s one of our many strengths.”

Freshman Averie Lower had a team-high 19 kills while Beck added 12 and Sam Schrage and Addison Gisleson each had 10 as Clear Creek Amana advanced to the 4A semifinals.

Clear Creek Amana (33-10) will face second-ranked North Scott (33-5) on Wednesday at Noon.

“This is by far the best we’ve played,” Schrage said. “We’ve grown a lot as a team and we just kept playing better.”

Marion (35-7) was impressive in early using an 11-2 run to take a 14-9 lead in the opening set and never let Clear Creek Amana get closer than five points the rest of the way.

Clear Creek Amana immediately fought back.

The Clippers used a 6-1 burst to erase a 9-8 deficit in the second set and never trailed again while evening the match at one set apiece with a 25-19 win.

“We knew they were going to give us a fight but we were going to give them a fight back,” Lower said. “We knew we could pull it out.”

Marion won the third set 25-23 to put Clear Creek Amana on the brink.

With its back against the wall Clear Creek Amana came out swinging.

The Clippers used a 6-1 run midway through the third set to turn an 11-7 deficit into a 13-12 lead and never let the Wolves pull even.

“We really, really wanted it,” Schrage said. “We wanted to prove to everybody that we are a good team and capable of winning games here.”

The fifth set was all Clippers from the outset.

Marion actually scored the first point on a Michaela Goad kill but Clear Creek Amana scored the next seven points to seize control.

“I’m super proud of them,” Clubb said. “We made adjustments to the things they were doing and the girls stepped up.”

Ashlyn Pitcher started the critical 7-0 burst with a kill, Lower added a kill and Beck had back-to-back kills to make it 4-1.

Another Pitcher kill made it 5-1 and a pair of Marion errors gave Clear Creek Amana a 7-1 cushion.

“We just played as a team,” Lower said. “Our passes were great and we had good sets and everyone was doing their job.”

Marion got as close as 10-6 but Beck answered with a kill and Lower, Schrage and Gisleson had kills to put the match away.

Gisleson hammered the match-clincher that set off a wild Clipper celebration.

“It’s the be best feeling in the world,” Gisleson said. “There is nothing like it, it’s so exciting to be with your teammates celebrating that moment.”

Lower led the balanced attack with 19 kills on 52 attempts and added 15 digs.

Meg Berkland had 37 digs to lead the Clippers while Gisleson had 17 digs to go with 10 kills.

“Averie killed it, all the girls were great,” Beck said. “Being able to feed off of each other when we are all having success is important. Success for them is success for us. Having that mindset has been really helpful. We are a really a team.”

Peyton Johnson had a match-high 21 kills to lead Marion while Goad had 17 kills and Avery Van Hook added 12 kills.

Clear Creek Amana              19  25  23  25  15       

Marion                                   25  17  25  21   8

Clear Creek Amana (Kills-aces-blocks)

Ashlyn Pitcher 2-0-1, Meg Berkland 1-0-0, Bliss Beck 12-1-3, Emily Henderson 1-3-0, Silvana Kabolo 1-0-2, Sam Schrage 10-2-2, Addison Gisleson 10-0-0, Averie Lower 19-2-0, Totals 56-8-8.

Assists – Emily Henderson 28, Kenadi Wood 22, Meg Berkland 5

Marion (Kills-aces-blocks)

Peyton Johnson 21-0-0, Sophia Paulson 6-2-0, Hope Vanderlinden 4-0-1, Jenna Heinricy 3-0-0, Avery Van Hook 12-1-2, Joslynn Mehaffy 2-0-2, Michaela Goad 17-3-4, Totals 63-6-9.

Assists – Avery Van Hook 44, Natalee Hartman 7, Sophia Paulson 3, Emily Dooley 2, Michaela Goad 1, Joslynn Mehaffy 1, Hope Vanderlinden 1

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