Susan Harman

Your Prep Sports

TIFFIN – Seriah Sherman ended what drama there was in the 4A Regional Final volleyball match between top-ranked Clear Creek-Amana and Cedar Rapids Xavier.

Her kill from the left side sent Clipper players into a celebratory pile and keyed the student section to join them.

The Saints had staved off two match points but just delayed the inevitable.

With three identical 25-15 set victories the Clippers (41-3) earned their fourth consecutive berth in the state volleyball tournament.

By doing so they ended Xavier’s streak of nine consecutive trips to state, which was the state’s longest current streak.

“They’re still a great team, and I’m glad we got another chance to play them,” sophomore outside hitter Julia Schlarbaum said.

Xavier (15-16) was one of three teams to beat the Clippers (21-13, 16-21, 11-15) in a tournament in Grinnell back in August.

But this is not the same Clipper team and nothing showed more effectively than this match.

“We just grew as a team throughout the season, and I think that’s really what made it happen,” sophomore setter/libero Kendall Ronnfeldt said. “We just got better and better.”

“We had a pretty good idea of what (the Saints) were going to do to us. In the middle of the season they changed their rotation and lineup,” Clipper coach Jackie Clubb said. “We were prepared for what they were going to do. We changed a little of our defense, not a ton, but you’ve got to give (Xavier senior) Macie (Lupkes) credit; she is a great player. She gave us all we could handle.”

CCA is the top seed in Class 4A and will play a quarterfinal Monday at 4 p.m. against eighth-seed Sergeant Bluff-Luton (19-12).

Games will be at the Xtream Arena in Coralville.

Each set featured CCA runs of four or five points, and Xavier never recovered.

While the Saints played with effort they also made more errors.

Improved play, hustle and a level of mental toughness has changed the Clippers.

“We came together and improved, and we communicated very well with each other,” Schlarbaum said.

Effective communication is essential in every phase of volleyball but was particularly noticeable when free balls were roaming all over, and the Clippers were saving them time and again with dips and dives and frantic chases.

Ronnfeldt, who is primarily responsible for making sure all those options are exercised, did that and much more in her libero position.

The Clipper offense was effective because everyone was involved, and the Clippers have a lot of places to go on the court to score.

“We have a lot of options,” Clubb said.

“It starts off with a great pass; our passes were on,” senior all-state hitter Averie Lower said. “We have an amazing setter. She sees a lot. And then we have so many front-row weapons. It’s (hard) for the defense to play against us.”

“Everything was just rolling like the pass, the set, the hit,” Ronnfeldt said. “It was all consistent.

How are the Clippers able to keep this success rolling? For sure they’ve had a great group of athletes, many of them multi-sport athletes. “We always want to keep getting better, that’s the plan,” Clubb said. “And these kids want to get better. So knowing that we all want to get better, we’re pretty focused.”

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