Patriots Win Championship at Hampton Tourney
Launch the media gallery 1 playerBy: Kennedy Settje, a junior at Leigh High School
After placing second at their first tournament of the year, the Clarkson-Leigh Patriots craved a championship finish! The volleyball team woke up early and packed onto the bus anxiously waiting to win the gold. The long haul to Hampton, NE, gave each girl plenty of time to get mentally prepared for the competition they had waiting for them.
And win the gold they did! They beat Silver Lake, Mead, and Hampton to clinch the championship and improve their season record to 12-1.
The Patriots’ first match-up was against Silver Lake. Going into the game, the Patriots knew who their go-to hitters were and who could pass the ball well. Trying to find the holes in their block and weaknesses in their defense was the Patriots’ game plan going into it. Once the Patriots recognized their faults, they capitalized on them. They ran away with the first set resulting in a score of 25-14.
The second set was similar to the first. The frustration of Silver Lake’s players allowed Clarkson-Leigh to keep all the momentum on their side. They continued to run quicks and get their passes to target. By doing this, the Patriots secured their first win of the tournament.
Shortly after the Silver Lake game, Clarkson-Leigh was ready to take on Mead. Going into the game, coach Becky Schneider warned her team of Mead’s top players. Getting out on the block and being set for defense was what was going to keep the Patriots in the game. That proved to be true as solid defense won Clarkson-Leigh their game. They were scrappy and didn’t let any ball drop without effort. The final scores against Mead were 25-23 and 25-20.
By winning both of the pool play games, the Patriots earned the opportunity to play for 1st against Hampton. Both teams had a game plan going into the championship game. The Patriots started off the first set a step slow. Hampton went on long runs and made it a very close game. Eventually, Clarkson-Leigh pulled away in the first set with a score of 25-21.
The second set was better for the Patriots, as they carried over the momentum from winning the first set. They ran quicks and served aggressively, which resulted in a Patriot win of 25-15. With a big celebration and a standing ovation from the Patriot fans, Clarkson-Leigh received 1st place in the Hampton tournament.
“Hampton was awesome! We did a lot of good things in all of the matches!” Head Coach Becky Schneider said. “We served really well and limited ourselves on serving errors, which is huge! We talk a lot about staying at the serve line and being able to go on big runs, and we were able to do that! Maybe not big runs all the time, but a few in each match definitely pays off! We know we will not win matches just by earning rally points!
“Something else that we did well was being scrappy and keeping the ball alive! We had some players with some sweet saves on the ball, and 9 times out of 10, we were able to win that point which was a huge momentum boost!!
“We also stayed aggressive. Generally, we passed fairly well, but even when we didn't, we were still able to send an aggressive ball over. We limited the number of free balls we sent to our opponent, which is definitely a plus!
“Another thing that sticks out was our ability to make an adjustment of our defense. In our match against Mead, we struggled a little bit slowing down their top outside, so we made an adjustment, which was a game changer! We were able to pick up more of her attacks and keep the ball in play. So props to our girls for executing that adjustment and making it work!
“Lastly, the communication, celebrations and overall energy of the team, were all on point which are key aspects in keeping the momentum on our side and definitely helped us go 3-0 on the weekend!!”
Senior, Kayden Schumacher, had this to say when asked about our games, “I think we played our first two games really well. We maintained a high level of energy and play. We came out fired up and ready to play against Silver Lake. Our passing and tip coverage during this game was great. After winning this game, we faced Mead. We knew that Mead was going to be a tough game, but we rose to the challenge. We started off our first two sets losing by three points, then we fought for points and won both sets. We came out a little slow in the championship against Hampton. After gathering our bearings, we started to play at our level. Winning the championship was very rewarding, and I thought we played really well all day.”
Clarkson-Leigh v. Silver Lake
Set 1 Set 2
Clarkson-Leigh 25 25
Silver Lake 14 16
(kills, aces, blocks, digs, assists)
Makenna Held: 1, 0, 1, 2, 22; Chloe Hanel: 15, 0, 0, 1, 0; Kayden Schumacher: 2, 1, 0, 14, 0; Bailey Lemburg: 0, 1, 0, 1, 0; Alissa Kasik: 0, 1, 0, 5, 0; Cassidy Hoffman: 6, 0, 3, 1, 0; Kennedy Settje: 1, 0, 1, 3, 0; Korbee Wendt: 1, 0, 1, 0, 0;
Clarkson-Leigh v. Mead
Set 1 Set 2
Clarkson-Leigh 25 25
Mead 23 20
(kills, aces, blocks, digs, assists)
Makenna Held: 1, 1, 1, 4, 23; Chloe Hanel: 11, 1, 1, 4, 0; Kayden Schumacher: 2, 0, 1, 14, 0; Bailey Lemburg: 0, 1, 0, 4, 0; Alissa Kasik: 0, 0, 0, 3, 0; Cassidy Hoffman: 9, 0, 2, 1, 0; Kennedy Settje: 2, 1, 0, 5, 0; Korbee Wendt: 0, 0, 1, 1, 0;
Clarkson-Leigh v. Hampton
Set 1 Set 2
Clarkson-Leigh 25 25
Hampton 21 15
(kills, aces, blocks, digs, assists)
Makenna Held: 2, 1, 1, 2, 18; Chloe Hanel: 7, 1, 1, 3, 0; Tanyn Larson: 0, 0, 0, 2, 0; Kayden Schumacher: 2, 1, 2, 4, 0; Bailey Lemburg: 0, 5, 0, 1, 0; Alissa Kasik: 0, 1, 0, 1, 0; Cassidy Hoffman: 5, 0, 4, 1, 0; Kennedy Settje: 4, 2, 0, 7, 0; Korbee Wendt: 1, 0, 1, 0, 0;