Published: October 30, 2009 07:04 am      

Clinton volleyball team bows out at Hempstead

Herald Staff Report

DUBUQUE — Mark Massey kept the scouting report simple as the Clinton volleyball team prepared to face fourth-ranked Dubuque Hempstead on its home court Thursday in the Iowa Class 4A Region 7 semifinals.

The strategy didn’t produce an upset, but it did make for a competitive match.

“I kind of took a little bit different approach,” said Massey, who recorded his 700th career coaching victory Monday when the River Queens beat North Scott in the quarterfinals. “We had scouted them and knew some of what they would do. But we knew that because of their injury situation they’d give us a different look, so we kept the scouting report real simple. Sometimes as coaches we put too much focus on the other guy. We tried to put the focus on us.”

Focusing on themselves, the River Queens (14-13) forced Hempstead to four games before bowing out in a 25-20, 25-18, 22-25, 25-14 match.

“We came out and knew they were fighting a little bit of an injury situation and had a couple of players splintered,” Massey said. “We knew we had to identify them. To our credit, our blockers did a pretty good job defensively, and we did a pretty good job on serve-receive, maybe one of our better nights. Except for one point in Game 4, it was a back-and-forth match all night. We’re disappointed to lose, and I’m sure the kids would say it was disappointing for the season to come to an end.

“Reflecting on the season and the way we finished, I’m certainly proud of the kids. It seemed like every time we got our backs against the wall, they responded.”

The season-ender brought the typical sadness from a coach about to watch another senior class goes its own way. This one perhaps even more so because his daughter Sarah was one of the key seniors.

“It’s been a group I’ve been around, I suppose for a real long time, volleyball-wise six or seven years,” Mark Massey said. “It’s a group of kids that have been kind of what you talk about and want as a coach. They’re unselfish, and we’ve gotten real good leadership out of them.”

Massey must replace three other seniors besides his daughter: libero Paige Dehner, middle hitter Mallory Voss and setter Ashley Haugen.

“Paige, as the libero, has been on the court most of time and always is doing the very best she can. She has been a very dependable serve-receiver and aggressive defensively,” he said. “Ashley has been a good setter for two seasons now and works hard. We asked her to work a lot on her defense, and she has. Mallory has played middle in the front row for us the last couple years, and her serve has been a real effective weapon for us. Sarah for two years has played front and back row, and I think this year was one of our most dependable serve-receivers and played solid left back. I think she became more confident in both the back row and as a hitter the last half of the season.”



DUBUQUE HEMPSTEAD 25-25-22-25,

CLINTON 20-18-25-14

Kills — Sarah Massey 14, Mallory Voss 7. Aces — Massey 2, Voss 2, Ashley Haugen 2. Blocks — Leisha Harris 3. Assists — Courtney Camp 18. Haugen 13. Digs — Massey 18, Devynn Paulsen 17.