Clinton hosted East Bladen in a Four County Conference volleyball match-up on Tuesday afternoon. The Lady Eagles refused to lie down, as they took the Lady Dark Horses to 4 sets, all closely played with the exception of the first. In the end, Clinton wore down the scrappy Lady Eagles and picked up their second consecutive conference victory.
Clinton ran out to a big lead, as much as 10 points early, and closed out the first set 25-16 in short order. The Lady Horses looked set to sweep the Lady Eagles and head for early dinner, but East Bladen had other ideas.
The Lady Eagles roared out of the gates early in the second set, going up 10-2 at one point before Clinton could break their serve. Clinton made a comeback, pulling within three points twice, but fell short dropping the second set, 21-25.
The Lady Horses, as they had in the opening set, took an early lead in the third set and cruised to a 25-13 win to go up two sets to one. The Lady Eagles opened the fourth set with a flourish, pushing out to a 6-2 lead before Clinton settled down and rallied.
With East Bladen holding a 15-11 advantage the referee stopped play and discussed a substitution infraction with both coaches before determining that East Bladen had made an illegal substitution, resulting in the loss of a point. After the lengthy break in action the score was adjusted to 14-12 in favor of the Lady Eagles. The long delay seemed to rob the Lady Eagles of momentum as Clinton took control of the match, roaring past the Lady Eagles for a 25-20 fourth set win to close out the match by a score of 3-1.
The Lady Horses were led by Jenna Mitchell’s 11 service points and Francesca Juaregui who had an impressive stat line including 7 spikes and 10 service points including two aces. Jamie Jones added 6 spikes, 5 service points with 3 aces and 2 blocks. Corey Spell chipped in 9 service points including two aces and played big at the net with two blocks and 6 spikes, several coming at key times in the fourth set.
After the game, Clinton head coach Jennifer Edgerton said, “East Bladen’s record does not reflect how scrappy this team is. They refused to go away and made us fight for this one. We got good play from several people tonight, including Jessica Hamilton who filled in up front and played well up.”
The win improves Clinton’s overall record to 7-1 and moves their conference mark to 2-0. Clinton travels to Spivey’s corner on Thursday to face cross county rival Midway.
The Clinton JV took a 2-1 win over East Bladen, dropping the first set 22-25, then rallying to take the final two sets by scores of 25-21 and 26-24.