Patriots Finish Second in Stanton Tourney
Battle Creek Snaps Patriots Undefeated Streak
By: Kennedy Settje, a senior at Leigh High School
In their first tournament of the year, the Clarkson-Leigh Patriots took a small roadtrip to Stanton on Saturday, September 18. They entered the day with an 9-0 record and were hoping to make it all the way to the championship.
The first game against the Twin River Titans was rather quick. The Patriots came out with the right mindset. They were eager to take down any opponent put in their way. They came out of the first set with a score of 25-3.
After a quick break between sets, the Patriots had a look of determination on their faces. They wanted to take down the Titans again, with a score similar to the first set. After some aggressive serves and hits, the Patriots reached their goal, winning the second set with a score of 25-8.
After securing their first win, Clarkson-Leigh matched up against Ponca. After one game off after Twin River, the Pats were ready for what the Indians had in store for them. Ponca threw a couple off-speed, tricky balls that the Patriots couldn’t pick up. However, the Patriots had a couple of their own tricks up their sleeves. They put these tricks into play and got the first set win, 25-13.
Both teams played the second set very similar to the first. The Patriots set the ball up very well and put the Indians out of system. This led to a victory for the Patriots, 25-13.
Both of these wins led the Patriots to the championship game against Battle Creek. Clarkson-Leigh was thrilled to be back again for a chance to win it after falling short last year.
The game started off pretty slow for the Patriots. Battle Creek jumped up on the Patriots and took a big lead before the Patriots called a timeout. The timeout settled the Patriots, but it wasn't enough for the Patriots to come back. They lost the first set 15-25.
The next set was much better for the Patriots. They came out fired up after losing the first set. They were way more aggressive on offense. They swung harder and were a lot scrappier on defense. This resulted in a second set win for the Patriots, 25-22.
The 3rd set was back and forth until about 15-15. At this point, the Braves rattled off 5 points until the Patriots got the serve back. Although this gave the Pats a little momentum, it wasn’t enough for them to come back and win. They ended up losing the set 18-25, as well as the match.
Senior Makenna Held said, “The Stanton tourney was a great first one for us. We played some teams we don't usually see the rest of the season, including Ponca and Battle Creek. Even though we couldn't pull out the win against Battle Creek, I still am proud of how we played at this tourney and how the season has been going thus far. I am excited to see what we can accomplish the rest of the season!”
Head Coach Becky Schneider said “The Stanton Tournament was a great outing for us! Twin River and Ponca were great matches to start the tournament as we played really well together and did some really nice things collectively! The Battle Creek match was definitely more of a challenge, which we knew it would be! We started out slow in all of the sets which we know we cannot afford to do, but we definitely battled and never gave up! They were a strong serve team therefore we struggled to get our offense going by not having that pass on target! Overall, we felt it was a great match to learn from and get better!!”
The C-1 Braves handed the Patriots their first loss of the season, which brings the Patriots’ record to 11-1.
Stats:
Clarkson-Leigh v. Twin River
Set 1 Set 2
Clarkson-Leigh 25 25
Twin River 3 8
(kills, aces, blocks, digs, assists)
Makenna Held—2, 2, 1, 1, 18; Chloe Hanel—11, 2, 0, 0, 0; Tanyn Larson—2, 0, 0, 0, 0; Gracie Eisenmann—2, 8, 0, 4, 0; Kennedy Settje—4, 0, 0, 2, 0; Brynn Settje—0, 4, 0, 1, 0; Izzy Hollatz— 0, 2, 0, 0, 0
Clarkson-Leigh v. Ponca
Set 1 Set 2
Clarkson-Leigh 25 25
Ponca 13 13
(kills, aces, blocks, digs, assists)
Makenna Held—1, 2, 0, 4, 18; Chloe Hanel—8, 0, 0, 5, 1; Tanyn Larson—0, 0, 0, 1, 1; Gracie Eisenmann—8, 1, 0, 4, 0; Kennedy Settje—3, 1, 0, 4, 0; Korbee Wendt—2, 0, 0, 1, 0; Brynn Settje— 0, 0, 0, 4, 1; Izzy Hollatz— 0, 0, 0, 5, 1
Clarkson-Leigh v. Battle Creek
Set 1 Set 2 Set 3
Clarkson-Leigh 15 25 18
Battle Creek 25 22 25
**NO STATS AVAILABLE