Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

CORALVILLE – Clear Creek Amana was close.

So close.

The Clippers just couldn’t quite close out a championship.

Top-ranked Norwalk won the final two sets to rally for a 22-25, 25-12, 20-25, 25-17, 15-11 win over third-ranked Clear Creek Amana on Thursday in a thrilling Class 4A state title match at Xtream Arena in Coralville.

“Only five teams get to end their season on a win and we got the closest we could get,” Clear Creek Amana coach Jackie Clubb said. “They gave it everything they had and that’s the best I could ask for of them.”

Clear Creek Amana (35-7) pushed the top-ranked Warriors to the brink with a 25-20 win in the third set but Norwalk battled back behind senior standout Elle Hatlevig.

Hatlevig hammered a match-high 39 kills, one off the Class 4A state tournament record, as Norwalk (33-6) claimed the first title in program history in just its third state tournament appearance.

“She is such a good hitter, she can find where the court is open and she can hit right over the block,” Clear Creek Amana senior Bailey Simpson said of Hatlevig. “She was very hard to defend for sure.”

The runner-up finish for Clear Creek Amana was the second in the past five seasons and capped an incredible late-season surge by the Clippers.

Clear Creek Amana had won 18 consecutive matches before the state title match loss, a stretch that included state-tournament sweeps of defending 4A runner-up Sioux Center and second-ranked Davenport Assumption.

“I am proud of how we’ve progressed throughout the season,” Simpson said. “With all the changes we’ve made to our lineup all the girls handled it so well and we fought so hard which I am very proud of.”

Clear Creek Amana trailed early in the opening set but found a spark in Schlarbaum at the service line.

The junior standout recorded five consecutive ace serves during a 7-0 Clear Creek Amana burst that erased a 17-14 deficit and gave the Clippers an opening-set lead they would never give up.

“I definitely knew that my serving game was going to get them out of system and we knew all our serves had to be tough,” Schlarbaum said. “I’m really glad that happened.”

Hatlevig had 10 kills on a staggering .714 hitting in a 25-12 Norwalk win in the second set but Clear Creek Amana responded once again.

The Clippers trailed 19-18 late in the third set but closed on a 6-2 run fueled by a Simpson kill and capped by a set-clinching kill by junior Haydin Wauters.

“We just knew that if we kept fighting and didn’t lose ourselves and lose our momentum that we could still fight back and come back,” Simpson said.

Norwalk forced a fifth set with a 25-17 win in the fourth and never trailed in the fifth.

The Warriors jumped to a 5-1 lead in the fifth set and never let Clear Creek Amana trim that lead to less than two.

“We knew they were going to go on runs, we knew the momentum was going to change,” Clubb said. “It’s tough to not get overcome by the fast swings but I think our group did a great job adjusting.”

Hatlevig had 12 kills over the final two sets including four in the fifth set that included the match-clincher.

The Michigan State recruit hit .438 for the match and added a match-high 27 digs.

“She’s phenomenal, she is even great in the back row as well, I was impressed with her back row play today,” Clubb said of Hatlevig. “She is a great player. You try not to be overcome by it but she was phenomenal the whole match.”

Schlarbaum led Clear Creek Amana with 19 kills and six ace serves and Simpson had 12 kills, four aces and two blocks.

“I think we gave the best we could,” Clubb said. “We left it all out there and that’s all we could do.”

Wauters had four kills and two blocks and junior Delaney Vaske had four kills and four blocks.

Kendall Ronnfeldt had a team-high 19 digs and senior Payton Curtin had 27 assists and 18 digs.

“I just told the juniors how proud of them I am,” Simpson said “A lot of them stepped up this year and they filled big roles and did absolutely amazing.”

Norwalk                                 22  25  20  25  15

Clear Creek Amana           25  12  25  17  11

Norwalk (Kills-aces-blocks)

Myla Brown 6-3-4, Mary Bush 0-2-0, Elle Hatlevig 39-1-2, Embry Dupont 3-0-4, Delaynee Steele 12-2-4, Haizee Trilk 0-0-0, Olivia Winslow 2-0-8, Reese Heim 0-0-0, Hadley Michael 1-4-2, Totals 63-12-24.

Assists – Hadley Michael 56, Reese Heim 3, Haizee Trilk 1, Delaynee Steele 1, Elle Hatlevig 1

Clear Creek Amana (Kills-aces-blocks)

Bella Behrens 0-2-0, Kendall Ronnfeldt 0-0-0, Bailey Simpson 12-4-2, Julia Schlarbaum 19-6-0, Payton Curtin 1-0-3, Haydin Wauters 4-0-2, Delaney Vaske 4-1-4, Payson Ellard 0-0-0, Totals 40-13-11.

Assists – Payton Curtin 27, Kendall Ronnfeldt 9, Julia Schlarbaum 1, Delaney Vaske 1

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