PLAYOFF BOUND AGAIN

Securing fourth straight trip to the playoffs, Clifton Lady Cubs clinch third place in District 17-3A, prepare for postseason with warmup at Little River Academy

Despite the disappointing loss to Troy last Tuesday, the Clifton Lady Cubs clinched third place in District 17-3A and a playoff berth by virtue of West sweeping past McGregor. Then last Friday evening, the Lady Cubs bounced back to sweep past McGregor in straight sets, 25-19, 25-16, 25-14, to qualifying for the postseason for the fourth straight season.

After playing four of their last five matches on the road. the Lady Cubs (6-3 in district, 27-13 overall) will close out the regular season by hosting Waco Harmony Science Academy (0-9, 0-16) at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Clifton High School Gymnasium, before playing a postseason warm-up game at Little River-Academy at 4:30 p.m. Friday.

Moving on to the Class 3A, Division II playoff bracket, Clifton opening the postseason with a Bi-District Playoff matchup against the Scurry-Rosser Lady Wildcats at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 5 at Waxahachie. The Lady Wildcats (7-3, 20-13) placed second in District 18-3A behind the 12th-ranked Grandview Lady Zebras.

“I’m so excited to see what the girls will do on our playoff run,” said Clifton volleyball head coach Joy Holzmann, who led the Lady Cubs to their first postseason victory in 20 years last season. “I’m so excited for the girls to be making another run in the playoffs. This was one of our goals this year, and I hope we can make a deep run with the two divisions that are now being offered.”

In a battle for second place in district last Tuesday, the Lady Cubs won the first two sets against Troy while looking flawless. But Clifton lost their momentum and never regained it in a shocking five-set loss, 25-16, 25-12, 15-25, 22-25, 9-15, to the Lady Trojans (7-2. 22-16).

“Yes, the first two games against Troy were flawless,” Holzmann said. “The girls let up and played safe instead of being confident and pushing through for the win. We played not to lose instead of playing to win.”

In the losing effort, sophomore Brystel Wise led the Lady Cubs with 12 kills, 15 digs and 23 service receptions, followed by senior Brylee Heim with 11 kills, 15 digs and 18 service recpetions, and senior Camy Barsh with eight kills and three blocks coming off an ankle injury.

Sophomore Madison Otter delivered a team-high 37 assists, while freshman Scarlett Kennedy led Clifton with 31 service receptions along with 13 digs, and junior Addison Martin smashed five kills, two service aces, one block and 13 digs.

“As I mentioned to the girls after the game on Tuesday against Troy, the girls need to learn from what happened and move on,” Holzmann said. “At least this was a district match and not the playoffs. So, we need to learn from what happened.”

In the dominating victory over fourth place McGregor (4-5, 18-15), Wise slammed a game-high 20 kills, four service aces, 11 digs and 12 service receptions, followed by Heim with eight kills, 10 digs and 12 service receptions, as well as Barsh with five kills and two blocks.

Martin led the Lady Cubs with three blocks along with three kills and eight digs, while Otter delivered a game-high 34 assists, and Kennedy came up with 15 service receptions.

“In the McGregor match, we played pretty well,” Holzmann said. “As a whole we passed the ball well, so we were able to run our offense with multiple options on who to go to. Brystel had an excellent match. Brylee Heim and Camy Barsh also had strong hitting games.”