CLARION, Pa. (D9Sports) — Strong team serving and a strong hitting game from Maya Thornton helped Clarion knock off visiting DuBois Central Catholic, 3-0 (25-12, 25-13, 25-10), in the opening round of the District 9 Class 1A playoffs Thursday evening.
(Photo: Maya Thornton)
The third-seeded Lady Cats will take on sixth-seeded Johnsonburg in the quarterfinals at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 31, at Clarion.
On Thursday, Clarion scored 18 points directly off serves including six aces with both Thornton and Lexi Lauer picking up a pair of aces each — Brenna Campbell and Alexis Constantino also had aces.
Meanwhile, Thornton owned the net with 11 kills including five in the second set and added three digs.
Thornton talked about the win.
Hailey Sintobin added seven kills for the Lady Cats with Maddie Schill chipping in five and Lauer four.
Alexis Constantino led the Clarion defense with 10 digs, and Lauer added nine.
Campbell ran the offense with 29 set assists.
Sophomore Jordan Kosko had four kills to pace DCC, including three in the first set, while Alyssa Bittner chipped in three kills and Keri Hollenbaugh two.
FIRST SET
With Clarion down 4-2 early in the first set after back-to-back kills by Kosko, Thornton took over serving and helped the Lady Cats go on a 10-0 run that included a pair of aces from her and two kills from Lauer to put Clarion up 12-4.
The lead quickly grew to 17-6 before a mini-run by the Lady Cardinals that featured kills from Hollenbaugh and Bittner made it 19-11.
But two straight net violations followed by kills from Thornton and Maya Miller made it 24-12, and then Schill finished off the set victory with a kill.
SECOND SET
A quick start by DCC that included a kill from Bittner had the Lady Cardinals up 2-0, and DCC still led 9-8 following a net violation on Clarion.
But kills from Sydney Kiser, Thornton and Sintobin started a 12-0 run that featured two more SIntobin kills and put the Lady Cats ahead 20-9. Again it was a Schill kill that finished off the set victory.
THIRD SET
Clarion wasted no time in the third set jumping out to an 8-2 lead on two kills each from Thornton and Lauer, and then, after a mini-run got DCC within five, 10-5, a 9-1 run that saw two more kills from Sintobin and another from Thornton put the set and match away.
