Cloverdale battles but falls short to Eminence

CLOVERDALE – Cloverdale’s volleyball team hosted Eminence on a ‘pink out’ night supporting cancer awareness.

There were bright pink uniforms for both squads and a lot of pomp and circumstance for additional festivities on senior night.

Unfortunately for the Clovers, they lost three close games 28-26, 27-25, 25-23 to the Eels. Seniors Yasmine Sorter, Keelie Price and Emily Mann were honored to start the game.

Several unforced errors by both squads combined with some excellent defensive play led to the close matches, but not enough to give the Clovers the victory. Cloverdale dropped to 0-21 on the season, while Eminence improved to 9-8.

“We definitely could have played better, but we were having fun,” Cloverdale head coach Paige Glassburn said.

Cloverdale rode the tide of emotion to start the first game as they jumped out to a quick 7-1 lead on the strength of a pair of aces by Sorter.

Eminence called timeout then proceeded to go on an 18-1 run to take a commanding lead in the first set.

The Clovers showed some heart as they battled back tied the score at 24-24 as Callee Smith had a kill and an ace and Price had a kill, but could not get over the hump as Meghan Halloran scored twice to end the set at 28-26 in favor of the Eels.

“We may have let the emotion of the night get to us. We were not focused at times,” Glassburn said.

The second set was close throughout as neither team could get much separation as extended runs were shut down by errors. Both teams struggled with unforced errors both at the net and behind the service line. The teams combined for 29 errors, but Eminence was able to prevail as the set went extra points with Eminence victorious 27-25.

“That middle game or even middle of a set has been a problem for us. We seem to start out well and finish strong, but really struggle in the middle,” Glassburn said.

Again, errors were the theme in the third set, but Eminence was making more of them early as Cloverdale was able to take a 9-8 lead.

Harleigh Peck scored twice in a row for the Eels and Cloverdale, despite keeping it close, made a couple of late errors themselves and lost the final set 25-23.

Mann’s absence, not able to play on senior night due to injury, was difficult for the Clovers.

“She would definitely make this different. We would have had a lot more touches with her playing,” Glassburn said of the senior.

The Clovers have a Western Indiana Conference game on Thursday at Sullivan as their final preparation before playing Riverton Parke in the tournament the following week on Oct. 12.