Solon, Clear Creek Amana make big strides during volleyball quad matches

Clear Creek Amana played host to Solon, West Liberty and West Branch in a volleyball quadrangular Tuesday night.

Clear Creek Amana coach Jackie Clubb said the busy night helps players get used to different opponents.

"It is a good start to the season," Clubb said. "It gives a look at the different competition in different conferences. It also gives us multiple matches in one night, which is really helpful."

From the perspective of Clear Creek Amana and Solon, getting to face multiple opponents in such a short span provided important takeaways for both teams.

The Spartans are fast learners

After losing its first set against West Liberty 25-19, Solon came into the second set with renewed energy.

In the 25-18 win, the Spartans started things off with a 6-2 lead and never let West Liberty get within two points, a tough feat against a good Comets squad.

It was a successful team effort as their points came from multiple players, most notably freshman libero Kennedey Whitford, who cemented her team's victory with consecutive aces for the final two points.

Even though the team was not able to use that momentum to pull off the extra set win, coach Mikayla Siddell (formerly Long) said that they have to continue to build on the positive things they saw.

"As we progressed, we started to figure out a flow of things," Siddell said. "I like it when our girls know what to do during specific parts of the game so that we are making sure we are all on the same page. We have to make sure that we are talking and keeping up the energy that helped us in that second match."

In its second match, Solon swept West Branch (25-23, 25-15) to improve to 3-1 this season.

CCA's early-season rust is wearing off

After starting the season with three uncharacteristic losses, Clear Creek Amana looked like it was getting back on track after winning its next four matches.

Coming into Tuesday's quad match hovering just above a .500 record, a solid homestand could help the Clippers get into a more comfortable position. That proved true after they took down West Branch in convincing fashion.

After outlasting the Bears in a tough first set 26-24, CCA handled them decisively in the second set 25-9.

They followed that up in the next match when they defeated West Liberty 2-1 (25-18, 2-25, 15-10). CCA is now 6-3.

Back to playing at their full potential, junior middle hitter Bliss Beck said that it took some time to get adjusted to the new lineup.

"We are all trying to get used to each other," Beck said. "We have a couple of people who have not played with each other before. So, as we get more used to each other we are becoming tighter knit as a team and getting better chemistry all around."

Who said inexperience was a bad thing?

One thing that sticks out about both Clear Creek Amana and Solon is that both have young teams.

The Spartans have four seniors compared to the Clippers' three, meaning many of the players on their respective teams will be back for at least another season.

Though there are growing pains that come with that much inexperience, it also makes for exciting games because the team is constantly getting more comfortable with playing with different people.

Take Solon, for example. The Spartans are a difficult team to gameplan for because they have several underclassmen in their starting rotation.

Recognizing that their youth works to their benefit, Whitford said that it has made the team more willing to learn.

"We are pretty easy to coach," Whitford said. "We respect Mikayla (Siddell) and listen to everything that she says. We want to be better and want to grow as a team with one another."

As for CCA, the Clippers have a few freshmen sprinkled into a roster packed with juniors. A lot of players are getting their first taste of varsity action, which Clubb said is where players' leadership comes into play.

"Our upperclassmen have a really high volleyball IQ," Clubb said. "Our underclassmen have been really receptive to that and respect it, which makes them play better. I explained to the team that we don't want just one player to do it all, we want to have multiple players who can still play a role and do well."

Raven Moore covers high school sports for the Iowa City Press-Citizen. You can reach her at RSMoore@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Raven_XReport.

This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Solon and CCA have big nights during Tuesday's volleyball quad match