Clarion Volleyball Overcomes Slow Start to Down Rival C-L, 3-0

Chris Rossetti

Chris Rossetti

Published September 19, 2018 4:20 am
Image

CLARION, Pa. (D9Sports) — Clarion was able to overcome a slow start against rival Clarion-Limestone to beat the “visiting” Lady Lions 3-0 (25-17, 25-17, 25-12) in KSAC action Tuesday night at Clarion High School.

(Photo of Brenna Campbell of Clarion serving Tuesday night. Photo by Jared Bakaysa of JB Graphics. See more of Bakaysa’s work here)

While the match was played at Clarion, C-L was the home squad having been forced to move the match from the Lions Den to Clarion High School because of some issues with moisture and buckling in the floor at C-L.

C-L came out motivated and led 11-8 following a 4-0 run that saw three Clarion hitting errors and a kill by Rachel Greeley.

Rachel Greeley. Photo by Jared Bakaysa

Rachel Greeley. Photo by Jared Bakaysa

But following a timeout, Clarion rolled off five straight points thanks in part to kills from Ali Troese and Dorothy Kalinowski, and while C-L was able to tie the set at 13 thanks in part to another kill from Greeley, the Lady Cats never trailed again in the set and trailed just once more in the match (3-2 in the second set).

It was a nice bounce-back victory for Clarion, which lost on the road, 3-0, Monday at Northern Cambria.

Clarion head coach Shari Campbell talked about the Lady Cats bouncing back and the match overall.

A couple of younger players played key roles in the win with freshman Korrin Burns recording a match-high 12 kills to go with five digs and two aces, and sophomore setter Brenna Campbell, Shari Campbell’s daughter, running the offense with 28 set assists to go with five digs and a kill.

Burns (on right) and Campbell talked about the victory.

Clarion’s offense was the difference in the match with the Lady Cats recording 32 kills to C-L’s seven.

In addition to the 12 from Burns, Kalinowski added six kills Troese four and Jordan Best three.

Greeley paced C-L with two kills and three blocks with Madi Craig adding two kills.

Defensively, for Clarion KK Girvin had seven digs to lead the way.

For C-L, Sadie Mahle had 19 digs and Emma Smith added 11.

Sadie Mahle. Photo by Jared Bakaysa

Sadie Mahle. Photo by Jared Bakaysa

After C-L re-tied the first set at 13, four Lady Lions errors and a Kalinowski kill made it 18-14 before three Clarion errors helped C-L close within one, 18-17. But a kill by Troese and two errors made it 21-17. Then a kill Burns made it 22-17. Two more errors and a kill by Kait Constantino closed out the set.

The second set was close for a while with Clarion leading 10-8 after a Kalinowski hitting error, but five C-L miscues and a kill from Hailey Sintobin, made it 16-8.

Clarion got it to 19-10 helped in part by a Campbell ace, but C-L didn’t go away fighting back to make it 20-16 on a Greeley block.

But Burns had three kills and Kalinowski one to help the Lady Cats put the second set in the books.

Clarion celebrates a point. Photo by Jared Bakaysa

Clarion celebrates a point. Photo by Jared Bakaysa

The third set was all Clarion with kills from Best and Kalinowski and three from Burns staking the Lady Cats to a 9-3 lead. Two more Burns’ kills — she had six in the set — and a kill by Troese got it to 11-4, and the set and the match was pretty much over.

The win improves Clarion to 4-1 overall and 3-0 in KSAC play with C-L falling to 1-4 overall and in conference action.

Clarion is back in action Thursday when it hosts Keystone. C-L is back in action Sept. 25 when it hosts Redbank Valley.

Recent Articles

Community Partner