Girls volleyball: Cloverleaf has no quit, but falls to Coventry

COVENTRY TWP. — The Cloverleaf volleyball team never stopped trying to mount a comeback Tuesday in its match against Metro Athletic Conference rival Coventry. In the end, the Colts were never able to get over the crest of the hill in a 27-25, 25-16, 25-19 loss between previously unbeaten teams. The Comets (4-0, 2-0) got out in front early in every set and clung to the lead late each time to protect their home gym against Cloverleaf (2-1, 1-1) for a second straight year. "We're definitely disappointed," senior libero Evie Barth said. "I think we all came into this game with a winning attitude. We lost to them last year and wanted to get back at them, but I think we just got into holes and lost a lot of points in a row." Barth tied Lauren Cook with a team-high 11 digs and joined Marlo Downing and Kenna Kohl in having one ace. Coventry wasted no time getting the jump on the Colts, scoring four of the first five points in the first set. That lead grew to 19-10 on a kill by the Comets' Reese Smith. Cloverleaf rallied and took a 21-20 lead as Cook served the Colts to six straight points, but Coventry halted the momentum and scored the last two points of the set when Cloverleaf hit the ball deep. "We definitely got ourselves into a hole," Barth said. "We eventually dug ourselves out of that hole, but if we would have started the way we finished that set we would have taken the first set easily, and the rest of them." The inability to get over that hump seemed to carry over into the second set, as Coventry scored eight straight points to take a 13-8 lead in a run that was aided by a series of Colts errors. "It kind of took a chunk out of us," Downing said of the first set. "We came into the gym with a good mindset, thinking we were going to do well today. We were worried about our ranking and where we were going to place. When we got on the court, they kind of used that to their advantage." Downing led Cloverleaf with 10 kills and tied Raina Walters for the team lead with two blocks. After falling behind, the Colts never got closer than four points from the lead in the second set. "They are a good team," Downing said. "We tried, but we kind of made multiple mistakes in a row and overall our energy wasn't there. We didn't really play bad, but we just didn't flow this game." Cloverleaf also got a team-high 23 assists from Madi Young and five kills apiece from Dixie Potter and Kenna Kohl. The Colts went back-and-forth with the Comets for the first half of the third set and trailed 12-11 after a kill by Young, but Coventry ran off five of the next six points for a 17-12 lead and never looked back. "It's definitely taught us that no matter what, we need to make sure we're playing as a team," Downing said of the first defeat of the season. "When we flow, we play really well as a team. We just need to make sure we show everyone that every time." Cloverleaf gets back at it Thursday when it travels to Ravenna. A home tri-match with Keystone and Tallmadge looms on Saturday. "We have a tough set of games this week," Barth said. "Going into those, we have to keep everyone up and have a winning attitude." Contact John Urchek at jurchek@medina-gazette.com.