Clovers swept out of sectional by Southmont

BAINBRIDGE — The Cloverdale Clover volleyball team came into the IHSAA Class 2A Sectional No. 44 as decided underdogs. Their opponent was one of the better teams in the area as they took on the Southmont Mounties to open sectional play at North Putnam High School.

The Clovers, hoping to pull the upset, saw their season come to a conclusion as the balanced Mounties took down the Clovers in three sets 25-9, 25-12, 25-10. Cloverdale finished its season at 2-22, while Southmont will move on to play North Putnam on Saturday morning at 11 a.m. The Mounties repeatedly attacked the net, forcing the Clovers into some errors as they improved their record to 10-6 on the season.

“We came into the season wanting to get better and improve every day. If you break the season into fourths, we got better each fourth. If we had a chance to play some of the teams we played early in the season, we might have a few more wins,” Cloverdale head coach Jim Spencer said.

Southmont came out and jumped out to a quick 10-4 lead in the first set. The Mounties service game set the tone early as they picked up five aces in the first 10 points. The Clovers kept pace in the middle portion of the set, but a 6-0 run by the Mounties gave them a comfortable lead at 20-8 and then they were able to finish the Clovers out 25-9 to take a 1-0 lead. Southmont tallied 11 service aces in the set, which did not allow the Clovers to set anything up offensively.

“Southmont is a very good team. I thought we did a pretty good job tonight, but they are tough to play and we couldn’t really get a lot going, but I thought we competed pretty well,” Spencer said.

Cloverdale improved its defense against the serve in the second set. The Clovers only allowed four aces, while they got a little offense going including a 3-0 run behind points from Chloe Sprinkle, Emma Hunter, and Erin Johnson to cut the Mountie early lead to 5-4, but a 13-3 Southmont run effectively put it in control at 18-7. Southmont then relied on the power game of Sidney Veatch and Kaley Ramey to continue to extend the lead and go on to pick up the second set by a score of 25-12.

“The Veatch girl is so good a setter when they are in-system, but she is so effective out of system by getting them in great position and turning things around,” Spencer said.

Cloverdale would not quit and played the Mounties competitively early in the third set. A pair of points by Sprinkle highlighted the Clovers early as they kept the score close at 6-5, but five straight aces by Southmont’s Makia Pierce gave the Mounties a 12-5 lead and they were able to cruise to a victory from there. The Mounties continued to pressure the Clovers with their balanced lineup and extended the lead until the final margin of 25-10.

Cloverdale struggled to keep pace with the athletic Mounties who forced the issue with either power serves or just attacking offensively. The Clovers valiantly played defense, but it was not enough to allow them to slow down Southmont.

Cloverdale had four seniors end their careers on this night. Lindsey Minton, Aubree Branigan, Alexa Wynia and Ashlyn Basore worked hard to get better over the year according to Spencer.

“We only had two seniors with any varsity experience before the season. They really worked hard to get better and did a great job of staying positive. We talked a lot about just loosening up and having fun over the last part of the season,” Spencer said.

In addition to the Mounties playing North Putnam on Saturday, Parke Heritage defeated Cascade and will advance to play South Putnam at 12:30 p.m on that same day.