CL volleyball team battles strong opponents

The Clear Lake volleyball program opened home play Thursday with a daunting task-- competing against the reigning Class 4A state champions, Charles City, and battling county rival Mason City.  The Lions made the most of the challenge.  They showed improvement from game one to game two in a 2-0 loss to the Comets, and battled to a 2-1 win over the Mohawks.

In the opening match, Charles City schooled the Lions 25-7 in the opening game.  The second game also went to Charles City, 25-13.

“This is the first time this season that we’ve played against an extremely fast-tempo offense,” said Coach Scott Swenson.  “I thought that during the second set we improved our play and battled for every point. Having the luxury of competing against the defending state champions in our gym was a tremendous opportunity for our girls and volleyball program overall. I saw some good things out of our team, but we also had some weaknesses exposed.” 

Statistical leaders included Kaye Faber with six assists and 4/5 serving.  Jeni Hamlin had four assists and four digs. Lindsey Loudenburg had three kills  and was 3/3 at the service line.  Katie Hewitt was credited with two kills and two assists on blocks and Madi Faber had four digs and was 4/4 serving. 

The Lions opened play against Mason City with a hard-fought 25-22 win.  The Mohawks returned the favor in the second game by the same score.  The rubber game of the match went in Clear Lake’s favor, 15-10.

“It took us the Charles City match to wake up and respond to the Mason City challenge,” said Coach Swenson.  “I thought our defense did a great job of making positive changes to the MCHS offense.  Their record is deceiving, they play a lot of highly ranked teams early on, so they are well battle-tested by the time they play us. Our team played well together and continued to improve throughout the match.”  The coach also noted the support of Carney Frahm and Marcie Dick off the bench.  “They continue to push themselves and the team,” he said.

Bailey Kibsgaard paced the Lions with five kills, two digs and 9/10 serving with one ace.  Katie Hewitt was credited with four kills and was involved in 3 blocks. Sidney Borrill also had four kills and two assists in blocks.  Kaye Faber put down three kills, had 10 assists and was 7/10 serving with two aces. Emily Phalen finished with three kills, eight digs and  7/8 serving.  Lindsey Loudenburg  had two kills, six digs and was 7/7 with an ace.

In the back two, Madi Faber dug out 21 shots and was 7/7 serving with one ace.  Sam Wilkinson contributed 16 digs to a winning cause. Jeni Hamlin - Read More Via e-Edtion