Clare volleyball gets road win over Standish

By BEN MURPHY

Cleaver Sports Writer

Top to bottom, the trip to Standish-Sterling on Wednesday, Sept. 24 was a pretty good one for the Clare volleyball team. The Lady Pioneers took down the Lady Panthers at all three levels, freshmen, JV and varsity. The varsity won on tallies of 25-22, 21-25, 25-20 and 25-22.

“It was a night of some great teamwork, and it’s exciting to see the skills we’ve been focusing on in practice showing up in game play,” head coach Shannon Taylor said. “Passing was much stronger, which gave Amelia Ryzyk the chance to make some really good in-game decisions setting.”

Ryzyk had a good night in the Jack Pine Conference match, getting 30 assists, eight kills and five digs and Syerra Mills led the attack with 16 kills, one block, two assists and two digs. Pamela Allen had six kills and nine digs, Kyley Wyman had six kills, one ace and 13 digs, Aria Smylie managed five kills, two aces and 17 digs and Marlee Clark added three kills, one ace, one assist and five digs. Breanna Jones had 17 digs and four assists an Hadley Jones served at a 95.2-percent and had one ace.

“This group is improving every day and continues to be a lot of fun to watch when everything starts coming together,” Taylor said.

On Monday, Sept. 22, Clare lost a JPC game at Ogemaw Heights, 26-24, 25-20 and 25-14.

“It ended in a tough loss for us, but it’s still very early in the conference season and there is much left to be decided,” Taylor said. “What stood out most to me was how the girls competed; they didn’t quit. That’s been a big focus for us, and we’ll continue to keep the mindset of playing point by point, set by set, and match by match.”

The Pioneers had Mills get seven kills, one solo block and one block assist and Wyman had seven kills, 17 digs and one ace. Ryzyk contributed 16 assists, two kills, one block assist, seven digs and one ace, Allen finished with five kills, five digs, two assists and one ace, Clark had two kills, one block assist, two digs and one ace, Smylie had 15 digs, one kill and one ace, Lena Renner hit for one kill, Jones served 100-percent and had one ace and Brenna Campbell tracked down six digs.

Clare was at Bullock Creek on Wednesday and will also head to compete at Gladwin on Wednesday, Oct. 8.

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