North Scott’s Game 5 surge sidelines No. 1 Clear Creek Amana

CORALVILLE — The natural instinct in a situation like this is to ask what happened.

What happened? McKenzie Moeller happened.

Moeller pounded three of her match-high 31 kills in North Scott’s fateful five-point run at the end, and the fifth-ranked Lancers toppled No. 1 Clear Creek Amana in a five-set Class 4A semifinal at the state volleyball tournament Wednesday afternoon at Xtream Arena.

Set scores were 25-21, 21-25, 25-23, 18-25 and 15-13.

“We’ve been in situations like this before,” said Moeller, a Southern Illinois University recruit. “It’s a matter of putting the ball down, stopping them and putting the pressure back on them.”

The Lancers (26-10) escaped a 13-10 dilemma in the finale and advanced to Thursday’s championship match against No. 2 Sioux Center (30-4).

First serve is 12:15 p.m.

“We had the momentum and we had confidence,” CCA’s Averie Lower said. “It just didn’t stay our way.”

Moeller knocked down a kill to start the Lancers’ rally, cutting the Clippers’ advantage to 13-11. She had another to tie it, 13-13, drawing the second of back-to-back CCA timeouts.

Her 31st kill got North Scott to the doorstep, then a CCA attack went long to finish it.

“I don’t know, maybe we got a little too comfortable,” CCA setter Emily Henderson said. “(Moeller) is insane. Our goal was to try to shut her down. But she can hit it pretty much everywhere.”

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Clear Creek Amana (42-4) was without sophomore Julia Schlarbaum, its third-leading hitter, due to illness. Schlarbaum watched from the bench.

“She was devastated that she couldn’t play,” CCA Coach Jackie Clubb said. “We all were devastated.”

Lower led the Clippers with 19 kills and 22 digs, and Bailey Simpson added 13 kills. Henderson collected 39 assists.

Perhaps a precursor to the final stretch came at the end of Game 3, when Moeller hit back-to-back kills to break a 23-23 tie.

CCA trailed 15-10 in the fourth set before a 15-3 blitz forced Game 5.

The Clippers held three-point leads in the finale on four occasions, the last at 13-10.

CCA was making its fourth consecutive state trip. The Clippers were 4A runners-up in 2022, semifinalists in 2023, quarterfinalists in 2024, semifinalists this time.

In 2023, like Wednesday, it ended with the top-ranked Clippers falling to North Scott.

The four-year record: 159-24.

“It didn’t end the way we wanted, but we were here all four years,” Henderson said.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com