Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

CORALVILLE – In their first two varsity season Clear Creek Amana seniors Emily Henderson and Averie Lower helped the Clippers to back-to-back 4A semifinal appearances that included a runner-up finish in 2022.

Last season Lower, Henderson and the Clippers lost a five-set thriller to Pella in the 4A quarterfinals.

That wasn’t an experience Lower or Henderson were interested in repeating on Monday.

“We came with such a fire today because we wanted to make it farther than we did last year and everybody was just ready to go,” Henderson said. “I know what it’s like to be in the semifinals, I know what it’s like to make it to the championship and I know what it’s like to lose in the first round and we came today knowing we had to win.”

Henderson and Lower led a spirited effort from top-ranked Clear Creek Amana on Monday in a 25-23, 25-9, 25-21 of ninth-ranked Sergeant Bluff-Luton at Xtream Arena in Coralville.

Lower had a match-high 17 kills and a pair of blocks and Henderson had 35 assists and four kills as Clear Creek Amana returned to the 4A semifinals for the third time in four seasons.

“Freshman year we made the championship, then semifinals and last year quarterfinals so to be able to get back to the semifinals and prove ourselves is huge,” Lower said. “It’s a big deal for us.”

Bailey Simpson added 10 kills and three blocks and sophomore Julia Schlarbaum had six kills as Clear Creek Amana soared into the semifinals.

Clear Creek Amana will face  North Scott (25-10) in the 4A semifinals on Wednesday at Noon.

“I think the first round is always hard because you have some nerves and you have to get used to everything but I think we did a great job of handling all that,” Simpson said. “I can’t wait to play Wednesday.”
Clear Creek Amana (42-3) made the key plays late in a tight opening set and rolled to wins in the final two sets to deny Sergeant Bluff-Luton (19-13) an opening-round upset of the top seed for the second consecutive season.

The Warriors knocked off top-seeded Cedar Rapids Xavier a year ago.

“I was looking back at last year and how they upset Xavier as the number one seed so I knew they were coming in with the mindset that they can do it again,” Simpson said. “I believed in us to counter that and not get flustered.”

Clear Creek Amana erased a 20-18 deficit in the opening set with a 5-0 run that concluded with three consecutive Lower kills.

“The passing was great, our sets were on,” Lower said. “I can’t have a great game without everybody.”

Sergeant Bluff-Luton cut the lead to 24-23 with back-to-back points but Clear Creek Amana closed out the opening-set win on a Simpson kill.

“We swung hard, we stayed aggressive at the net,” Lower said. “Sometimes we don’t stay as a aggressive and that’s something we’ve really improved on.”

The final two sets were all Clippers.

Clear Creek Amana never trailed in a 25-9 win in the second set and steadily pulled away for a 25-21 win in the third.

“Our experience definitely helped today,” Clear Creek Amana coach Jackie Clubb said. “We knew that Sergeant Bluff came last year and beat the number one seed as the eight seed so we knew they were not an opponent to overlook.”

Sergeant Bluff-Luton                       23   9   21

Clear Creek Amana                          25  25  25

Clear Creek Amana (Kills-aces-blocks)

Bella Behrens 0-0-0, Elizabeth Timmerman 1-0-2, Kendall Ronnfeldt 0-1-0, Bailey Simpson 10-1-3, Emily Henderson 4-1-0, Julia Schlarbaum 6-0-1, Kendyl Malli 0-0-0, Sariah Sherman 1-2-0, Averie Lower 17-1-2, Totals 39-6-8.

Assists – Emily Henderson 35, Julia Schlarbaum 4

Sergeant Bluff-Luton (Kills-aces-blocks)

Makenna Nelson 0-0-0, Peyton Brester 0-0-0, Madison Kvidera 5-0-4, Bailey Ball 1-0-1, Bre VanDenTop 11-0-1, Katilyn Hardie 0-0-0, Delaney Griebel 5-0-2, Kenleigh 0-0-0, Isabella Schaap 3-0-2, Totals 36-0-10.

Assists – Bailey Ball 28, Katilyn Hardie 4, Peyton Brester 1, Madison Kvidera 1, Bre VanDenTop 1

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