While it has been a season of far more ups than downs, every once in a while, Malcolm volleyball head coach Amber Dolliver is reminded that she has a team with a lot of young players. While many times this season, those young players have performed far above their years, at other times, their lack of experience in pressure situations has been evident.
Such was the case as the Clippers dropped the the championship match of the East Central Nebraska Conference tournament Oct. 11 in Malcolm. In a rematch of the 2017 title match, Auburn got the best of the Clippers this time with an 18-25, 25-18, 25-19, 25-21 win.
With the Clippers down 10-6 in the first set, Dolliver called a timeout.
“We were a little out of sorts,” Dolliver said. “I wanted to calm them down and remind them that they belonged on the floor with this team.”
Out of the timeout, Malcolm senior Brooklyn Minzel got her first kill of the match to spark a run for the Clippers. Malcolm grabbed the momentum and outscored the Bulldogs 19-8 the rest of way to take the first set.
“Our confidence was pretty high after we came back in the set,” Dolliver said. “We were on our home court, the crowd was into, we felt good.”
Things quickly began to unravel for the Clippers in the second set as the Auburn attack kept Malcolm out of system most of the set. Malcolm was down 15-8 when Dolliver called her first timeout, but things never really changed as the Clippers were unable to close the gap and Auburn finished strong to even things up.
“All of our momentum was gone at that point,” Dolliver said. “You could read it on our girls’ faces that the pressure was getting to them.”
The attacking errors began to pile up for Malcolm in the third set as the senior-heavy Auburn team took control of the match.
“They have five upperclassmen on the floor at all times,” Dolliver said. “We have rotations where we just have one.
“Our young girls have a lot of talent and plenty of potential. But, that night, the experienced Auburn players handled the moment better than we did.”
Minzel led her team with 23 kills while also recording 11 digs. Junior Hayley Duckett had 12 digs, including one that was team’s signature moment of the match. Duckett dove to her right to keep the ball alive, then Minzel dove toward the bleachers to get the ball back to toward the court before freshman Danielle Fortik, with her back to the net, bumped the ball over into a gap in the Auburn defense to score a point that brought the crowd to its feet.
“That’s the kind of hustle and effort we need to see,” Malcolm assistant coach Chad Eichenberger said. “Those are two upperclassmen leading by example.”
The Clippers' path to the championship match included an Oct. 8 opening round 25-17, 25-11, 25-20 win over Johnson County Central in which Minzel recorded 20 kills and five service aces. Fortik led the team with seven digs while freshman setter Ellie Baumert had 29 assists.
In their Oct. 10 semifinal match, Malcolm survived a tough battle and picked up a 25-22, 25-23, 25-22 win against a scrappy Palmyra team. Minzel’s 19 kills and 17 digs led the team while Baumert had 38 assists.
The Clippers (19-5) were scheduled to travel to Elmwood-Murdock for a Tuesday night triangular against the Knights (10-12) and Freeman (15-9) before a Thursday night trip to Wahoo to take on Bishop Neumann (23-1).
“We know we have work to do and this will be a good week to see some improvement,” Dolliver said. “This won’t be an easy week for our team.
“We will definitely be battle tested going into the postseason.”
