Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

TIFFIN – Clear Creek Amana all-stater Calia Clubb had an uncharacteristic quiet night offensively Tuesday against Center Point-Urbana.

Fortunately for the Clippers Clubb got more than a little bit of help from her teammates.

Morgan Etscheidt led five Clippers with at least three kills with a match-high nine as Class 4A ninth-ranked Clear Creek Amana swept Center Point-Urbana 25-12, 26-24, 25-23 in a WAMAC West Division match in Tiffin.

“Probably one of the biggest things we work on in practice is developing all our hitters,” Clubb said. “You can tell that there are certain players that have stepped up just in how confident they are in their swings and their shots.”

The team leader in kills with 98, Clubb was limited to seven kills on Tuesday but saw a slew of teammates step up to the plate offensively.

Etscheidt had nine kills while senior Hailey Pollock had seven and Emily Sly added five as Clear Creek Amana posted a 34-22 edge in kills.

“We just talked about how not everybody is going to have a great night every night and that’s why we work on everybody playing their role and doing their job and stepping up,” Clear Creek Amana coach Jackie Clubb said. “That’s what we’ve been working on at practice is those other girls have to be reliable as well not just Calia and Hailey. They were great tonight.”

It was Etschiedt who stepped up biggest on Tuesday.

Etschiedt entered with 22 kills on the season but made the most of her offensive opportunity on Tuesday hammering a season-high nine kills.

The nine kills from Etschiedt helped Clear Creek Amana improve to 9-3 on the season and 3-1 in WAMAC West Division play.

“It was definitely an adjustment because we are used to having Calia be such a strong force,” Etscheidt said. “It was great that other people stepped up and took on their role tonight.”

Clear Creek Amana cruised to a 25-12 win in the opening set despite just a single kill from Clubb who averages 3.2 per set this season.

Etscheidt, Pollock and Sly all had three kills in the opener as Clear Creek Amana scored 17 of the final 21 points after an early 8-8 tie.

“We’ve been working a lot with Morgan and Emily Sly and they stepped in and did a good job tonight,” Jackie Clubb said. “That’s something that we have this year is we have a deep bench and we have girls that can step in and do the job and that’s really nice to have.”
The Clippers used late rallies in each of the final two sets to complete the sweep.

Clear Creek Amana trailed 23-18 late in the second set before mounting a late rally.

The Clippers fought off a pair of set points, scoring the final five points in a 26-24 win.

“That was a big step forward for us,” Jackie Clubb said. “It’s nice for us to see that we made that step in playing from behind.”

Trailing 24-21 the Clippers got within one on a Center Point-Urbana error and Pollock kill.

An ace serve by freshman libero Meg Berkland tie the score at 24 and the Clippers took their first lead of the set on an ace block by senior Lauren Riggle.

“Every game we find something new to work on and that we get better at and I think we saw that in the second set,” Etscheidt said. “We are definitely going down the right path to where we need to be.”

Clear Creek Amana trailed by as many as four in the third set but scored three of the final four points, securing the sweep with a Clubb kill.

Clubb had four of her seven kills in the third set but it was her teammates that had helped set up the sweep.

“I am really glad that we have depth on our bench,” Calia Clubb said. “We have other people that can step up especially when we can’t always get the set to the outside.”

Clear Creek Amana              25  26  25

Center Point-Urbana            12  24  23

Clear Creek Amana (Kills-aces-blocks)

Lauren Riggle 3-0-0, Grace Bedford 0-1-0, Gabrielle Bedford 1-0-0, Kenadi Wood 0-1-0, Hailey Pollock 7-1-2, Morgan Etscheidt 9-0-2, Bliss Beck 2-0-0, Meg Berkland 0-1-0, Calia Clubb 7-1-0, Emily Sly 5-0-1, Team 34-5-5.

Assists – Grace Bedford 17, Kenadi Wood 7, Jaclyn Pitcher 2

Center Point-Urbana (Kills-aces-blocks)

Keely Franck 0-1-0, Paige Kramer 2-0-0, Emma Porter 1-0-0, Ella Casey 0-1-0, Katie Droste 4-1-0, Claire Neighbor 1-0-0, Sophie Gaffney 5-0-1, Terra Fink 8-1-3, Kylie Henry 1-0-0, Team 22-4-4.

Assists – Emma Porter 12, Ella Casey 2

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