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Clearfield volleyball falls in straight sets to DCC
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
By Jon Christoff Sports Writer
HYDE - So close, yet so far.
Clearfield volleyball coach Bob Peters has seen improvement from his team since the start of the season, and the Lady Bisons' progress was on display Tuesday against DuBois Central Catholic.
The Lady Bisons played improved defense and better at the net. The only problem for Clearfield, though, was things that had been solid for most of the season failed it in Tuesday's match, most notably their serving.
A back-and-forth first set gave the early edge to the Lady Cardinals, who took advantage of four service errors late in the game to claim a 29�27 decision.
From there, DCC was able to hold on for the sweep 25�22 and 25�20, and keep the Lady Bisons searching for their first win.
"I told the girls we did improve from the last time (we played DCC)," said Peters. "The last time they pretty much dominated all three games, but I felt we were in all three games here. We have had some improvement.
"It seems like there's always somebody that doesn't play their best game. If we could get them all clicking at the same time, I think we'd do really well. We had some miscues tonight, and the serving hurt us."
While DCC nearly doubled Clearfield's service errors, the Lady Bisons had a hard time getting a sustained run going.
It took Clearfield until late in the second set before it recorded a serving run of more than two points, and managed just two runs of three in the contest.
"We served really well last week against Punxsy," Peters said. "I think we only had one service error, of course we didn't serve as much as we did tonight. They've got to keep going all the time.
"It was a match I definitely think we could've won, but we didn't. Give credit to DCC."
The Lady Bisons held a 24�22 lead in the opening stanza and had serve, but the potential game-winner sailed long of the end line and gave the Lady Cardinals a chance.
After a pair of points from Joanna Fitzer put DCC at game-point, the Lady Cardinals were whistled for four hits.
Neither team capitalized on the next two serves, but Clearfield's Adrienne Stucke, again, had the Lady Bisons on victory's doorstep.
Stucke put her squad up 27�26, but DCC regained serve and closed out the set when a game-winner found its way into the net.
"Our old nemesis hurt us there," said Peters. "I think the last five servers had missed serves in that rotation at the end. If we would've had those, we would've won that game."
Peters found his squad needing a spark in the second, as the Lady Bisons trailed 19�16.
The head coach turned to his bench and found Cammeron Ogden, who tied things up with her unorthodox, under-hand serve.
Clearfield's Cortney Woodel, who led the team with 16 digs, tipped a ball between a pair of DCC defenders for one of three of Ogden's points, while Lady Cardinal miscues claimed the others.
"It's very seldom does she miss a serve," Peters said of Ogden. "I've always preached to them that simple is best - keep it simple because we can't score points if it's not in.
"Ana (Dungan) was having a tough time serving tonight, and I put her in and Cammeron did the job she had to do. I've got to give her a lot of credit for that."
Despite Ogden's spark, DCC earned a side out with a miscommunication on the Clearfield side of the net.
After the ball struck the floor, the Lady Cardinals' Ashley Novak served back-to-back aces to give her team the momentum it needed to close out the set.
"I think we played just as hard in the second game ... we just couldn't finish," said Peters. "Hopefully we can continue to work on it and improve the next game."
DCC got out to a 10�3 advantage, thanks to an eight-point run in the early going, and held off a feisty Lady Bisons squad.
Clearfield dropped to 0�13 on the season, and will try to crack the win column Monday as it entertains West Branch.
The Lady Bisons also dropped the jayvee match in straight sets.
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