CNE’s Genevieve Clevenger serves the ball for the Lady Rockets. Photo by Garth Shanklin.
CNE’s Madie Gilley bumps the ball to a teammate against Mariemont. Photo by Garth Shanklin.
CNE’s Tiffany Drewry readies to serve the ball against Mariemont. Photo by Garth Shanklin.
Clermont Northeastern’s volleyball team battled Mariemont for four sets but couldn’t quite come away with a win in the sectional finals at Mariemont on Saturday, October 22.
CNE dropped the first set 25-19. The Lady Rockets held on to take the second 25-23 but fell 25-22 in the third and 25-21 in the fourth to close out the match.
“I’ve always prided myself on feeling like the teams here at CNE never quit and end playing their best,” CNE head coach Emma Keough said. “I can say, honestly, this was the best we’ve played all season. I’m really proud of their effort, we just came up a little bit short.”
There were several things the Lady Rockets did well even in defeat, according to Keough.
“I thought our net play was good,” Keough said. “Our defense did a good job today. We tried to reduce the mental erros and we did a nice job of that.”
Mariemont has height up front and several good hitters, which CNE knew would be a tough task to defend heading into the contest. Keough said she felt her players rose to the occaasion.
“We knew that going into it, we knew what their strengths were,” Keough said. “We defended it pretty well.”
With the loss, CNE finishes the season 12-12 overall, 8-4 in league play. The Lady Rockets were around .500 all season, never going more than one or two games above or below .500.
“It’s been up and down,” Keough said. ‘The entire season, we battled a bit. We don’t have the really big hitter or the big net play and I felt like we found our niche and our strength. We relied on each other a lot, got better as the season went on and found new strengths.”
The contest at Mariemont marked the final game for the team’s three seniors: Tiffany Drewry, Madie Gilley and Genevieve Clevenger.
“They brought a lot to the program,” Keough said. “They left it all out there today. It’s sad to lose but I think when they look back on it they’ll be proud of what they left.”