Rivalry match sees Clover win

Friday, September 26, 2014
Cloverdale took a victory against county Rival North Putnam on Thursday. (Banner Graphic/JOHNATHON GOODE)

CLOVERDALE--Breast Cancer is a major problem in our world today and many organizations host charity events to fight it. Thursday night the Cloverdale Clovers and North Putnam Cougars volleyball teams did a pink out night to do their part.

Coaches Kathy Moore (Cloverdale) and Jill Schreiber (former North Putnam coach) started the event five years ago and in the last couple of years they have raised nearly $2,500 for cancer patients here in Putnam County.

"Jill Schreiber and I started this five years ago," Moore said. "It's been a wonderful thing. It's been a wonderful experience for us. We've raised around 2,500 dollars over the last couple of years and it's gone to research. Now it's going to the Putnam County Cancer Center. It feels good that it is helping local patients."

The Clovers won the match in five sets, winning the first two sets and the final set.

The Clovers (9-5 2-1 WCC) came out wearing their pink jerseys and the motion rubbed off on the Clover cheer block, who had approximately 50 supporters in that sections.

Cloverdale's cheer section helped their team. The team was confident, calm and well-collected and they easily swept the first two sets, 25-15 and 25-16.

"If we win our first set, we usually win the match," Moore said. "I've discovered that with this particular group. They were pretty excited. We had a big cheer block, we had the band and it's homecoming week. It was a big deal for us plus it's a conference game. It's also North Putnam. They play us point for point. They got us last year in five sets. This year it was our turn."

"We seem to have a problem with a slow start," Cougar coach Brandy Dixon said. "This is our fourth game in a row to go to five sets and we've only won one of those. I think this is a big realization for us tonight. It hurts us. If we didn't come out the way we did we wouldn't be where we are right now."

The Clovers forced the Cougars (6-12 1-2 WCC) to use all four of their timeouts in the first two sets and each time play resumed the Clovers scored the opening point. This happened all but three times for the entire night.

"One of the things we talk about is there are times that you don't want to miss a serve," Moore said. "You don't want to miss the first serve of the set, you don't want to miss the last serve of the set and you don't want to miss a serve after a timeout."

The Cougars gained energy in the third set and down 16-10, they scored their first opening point after a timeout and went on a 8-1 run.

North Putnam forced coach Moore to call a timeout that helped them get back on track. The game went back in forth, but the Cougars won, 25-23.

The Clovers were up 22-19 in the fourth set and they wanted to end the game. North Putnam had other plans on their mind. They took six out of the next seven points to win the set, 25-23.

"They warmed up," Moore said. "Taylor Nauert (NP) was not getting the sets the first two sets. Then she started getting the ball and she started whamming us. We had a lot of free balls and when you have a lot of free balls they always come back to bite you."

"I feel like definitely with us it's about energy," Dixon said. "We've got to make a few good plays to keep our energy up. We've talked in practice about that and how we can fix that. We definitely struggled in serving in the first couple of sets and we finally came through with that. I was really impressed with my seniors tonight (Shay Lucas and Kaitlin Mindiola). I felt like they came out and gave it their all tonight."

After being down 2-0 in sets, the Cougars had come back to tie it and at the right time. They took momentum on their backs into the final set.

A constructed issue for North Putnam was that the fifth set was the first to score 15. Even though they won the previous two sets, the Clovers had reached 15 first in all four sets.

The final set was no different than any other, except that Cloverdale had gained back the momentum. The Cougars nabbed the first point, but after that it was all Cloverdale, who won the set 15-4.

"Determination," Moore said. "This group doesn't quit. They're not quitters and they'll fight until the end. We got a couple of lucky breaks. It could've easily gone either way. We kept it together a little longer."

Both teams had issues serving the ball. There were a total of 26 service errors on the night and they came at crucial times. Cloverdale had two that potentially cost them the third set and the Cougars had seven in the first two sets.

"I got to give credit to North Putnam," Moore said. "They were digging up a lot of stuff tonight. Taylor (Nauert) was blocking Lexi Branneman. It was just a battle. North Put has improved and they don't quit. It always comes down to an error usually.

"I think they pushed a lot of balls over," Dixon said. "We were a little off balance on our passing. The passes weren't going where they were supposed to go. We were hitting them from behind our shoulders. We had to adjust our angles and we were hitting them out and into the net here and there."

Whether Cloverdale wearing pink and supporting breast cancer helped them win or not, they displayed a good show and for a good cause.

North Putnam was just as much a part of the support. Though they did not wear pink, it was both these teams that started this tradition.

At Cloverdale High School

North Putnam 15 16 25 25 4--2

Cloverdale 25 25 23 23 15--3

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