While two former stars of the Malcolm volleyball team were facing off against each other in front of more than 14,000 fans in Omaha, the new-look Clippers were busy at home fighting their way through the Malcolm Boosters Invite. With Hayley Densberger playing for the Huskers and Jaela Zimmerman now at Creighton, the Clippers are learning about life without their Division I stars.
The early indications are that life is all right as the Clippers went 4-1 for a runner-up finish in the Sept. 6 and 8 tournament. Malcolm opened pool play with a straight-set win over Fort Calhoun 25-13, 25-12. Brooklyn Minzel led the way with 10 kills, while Ellie Baumert had 15 set assists.
The second match for Malcolm was a rematch against a Louisville team they played in the opening week of the season. The result was the same as Clippers won in three sets 19-25, 25-22, 25-19. Minzel put away 25 kills against the Lions, while Baumert had 31 assists and Danielle Fortik added 15 digs to lead Malcolm.
“Ellie is doing a great job setting, and Danielle is working hard as our libero,” Malcolm head coach Amber Dolliver said about her two freshmen. “Both will continue to get better with experience.”
The Clippers finished pool play with wins over Fairbury (15-25, 25-19, 25-9) and Centennial (25-23, 25-17).
Minzel had a combined 30 kills and 21 digs in the two matches, while Baumert contributed 39 assists.
“Brooklyn is doing great, but we can’t ask her to carry so much of the load,” Dolliver said. “We’ll be a tougher team to beat when we can find some players to compliment her.
“We’ve tried numerous rotations and tried lots of girls at different positions, but we still don’t have it figured out. We’re young and the game is moving so quick.”
The Clippers’ youth got exposed in the championship match as No. 2 ranked Lincoln Lutheran made quick work of Malcolm in a 25-16, 25-15 win.
Wichita State commit Marriah Buss was too much for the Clippers to handle as she slammed kill after kill to the floor.
“I knew we weren’t ready for Lutheran,” Dolliver said. “That’s a team with a lot of weapons and there are so many things we haven’t worked on in practice.”
Minzel had 10 kills in the loss, while Baumert added 13 assists.
The Clippers (7-1) will get an opportunity to work out some more kinks this week as they host Wilber-Clatonia (1-8) Tuesday night before welcoming Milford (5-3) and David City (2-3) for a Thursday, Sept. 13, triangular.
“As young as our team is, we’re a little overwhelmed with everything,” Dolliver said. “All things considered, we’ve done well so far, but still have a lot of work to do.”
