Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

TIFFIN – In most instances Clear Creek Amana coach Jackie Clubb leaves it up to senior setter Emily Henderson to distribute the ball to the Clipper hitters.

On certain occasions Clubb will let Henderson know when she wants the ball to go to a certain hitter.

There’s a code for those instances.

“Jackie calls it ‘feed the beast’,” Henderson said. “Whoever is on fire just feed them. Feed them until it stops working.”

On Thursday it was Bailey Simpson that played the role of the beast.

Simpson hammered a match-high 19 kills as top-ranked Clear Creek Amana rolled to a 25-12, 25-12, 25-13 sweep of Mount Pleasant (22-15) in a Class 4A, Region 1 semifinal in Tiffin.

“100 percent I was going to Bailey tonight, she was definitely on fire,” Henderson said. “She was amazing.”

Simpson had three kills in the opening set but exploded for 16 over the final two including 10 in the third set as Clear Creek Amana improved to 40-3 and advanced to the Region 1 title game.

Clear Creek Amana will host Cedar Rapids Xavier (15-15) in the Region 4 title game on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Cedar Rapids Xavier defeated Grinnell in four sets in the other Region 1 semifinal.

“I definitely had to do some self-evaluation after the first set because I felt like I was early a ton,” Simpson said. “I told myself to slow down, watch the ball, stay behind Emily and trust her and it worked out.”

Simpson led a Clear Creek Amana attack that had four players with at least five kills as the clippers finished with a 46 to 18 edge in kills.

Sophomore Julia Schlarbaum had nine kills, Sariah Sherman had seven kills and Averie Lower had five kills in the balanced attack.

“Bailey was excellent and that allows other opportunities for people,” Clubb said. “When they realized we were going to Bailey then we had other opportunities for kids to step up.”

It all started with Simpson on Thursday.

The 6-foot-2 Simpson had three kills during a 6-0 second-set run that gave Clear Creek Amana a 18-6 lead.

She had 10 of the Clippers’ 16 kills in the third set including six during an 11-1 run to open the set.

“She loves it, she loves being fed, she loves the ball and she loves to be the one to take control,” Clubb said. “We want to take advantage of that as much as we possibly can.”

The Clear Creek Amana win came in the first action for the Clippers since going 3-0 last Thursday on its way to winning the WAMAC Tournament title.

“It was nice to have a few days off because the WAMAC tournament was so tough,” Simpson said. “We needed some rest but we knew we had to stay in the groove.”

The Clippers led 9-5 early in the opening set before eight of the next nine points to take a 17-6 lead.

Clear Creek Amana didn’t trail in either of the final two sets.

The Clippers scored the first four points of the second set and built a 9-3 lead and opened the third set with a 6-0 run and led 15-4.

“They weren’t satisfied with the way they played the first set and they made an adjustment and were more satisfied with the way they played the second,” Clubb said. “That was important for us.”

Clear Creek Amana  25  25  25

Mount Pleasant          12  12  13

Clear Creek Amana (Kills-aces-blocks)

Elizabeth Timmerman 2-0-0, Kendall Ronnfeldt 0-1-0, Bailey Simpson 19-1-0, Emily Henderson 2-0-0, Julia Schlarbaum 9-1-0, Sariah Sherman 7-0-0, Averie Lower 5-1-1, Haydin Wauters 2-0-1, Totals 46-4-2.

Assists – Emily Henderson 41

Mount Pleasant (Kills-aces-blocks)

Addison Clark 6-0-0, Alex Scott 8-1-1, Myah Starr 2-1-0, Jenna Schwartz 1-0-0, Kynlee White 1-0-1, Totals 18-2-2.

Assists – Abby Carthey 16

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