Klockner earns 1,000th assist as McDonald tops Campbell
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McDONALD -- The McDonald Blue Devils scrapped out a 3-1 victory over Campbell on Wednesday in both teams’ regular-season finale. The win avenges a 3-0 sweep at the hands of the Red Devils earlier in the season.
"We minimized our errors, and we had good energy, and we we were ready to go," McDonald coach Mike Klockner said. "All the credit to the girls. They worked hard, especially with the rougher season we’ve had (compared to) recent years. They kept fighting, and we’re seeing great improvement, just in time for the tournament."
The Blue Devils took the first two sets, 25-21 and 25-22 respectively.
Late in the third set, McDonald sophomore Grace Klockner earned her 1,000th career assist.
"As a coach, also as a dad, she works so hard. She puts so much effort into this. She’s very deserving of it, but it’s also a testament to the team," Klockner said. "She makes the passes, and obviously she’s not getting assists without the attackers getting the kills. It’s a testament to her hard work, but also to the team, the entire team, and how and how every person on the team has a role in that. It’s a great individual, but also a team achievement."
In that third set, McDonald dug itself out of multiple deficits, but were unable to seal the deal.
It was Campbell’s lone set win, beating the Blue Devils, 25-23.
"I just think we took it one point at a time, and we’ve really been focusing on 110% every single point," Red Devils coach Tyler Allen said. "We’re not focusing on the scoreboard, kind of just taking care of every point, every 10- to 15-second rally as we can, and again, just 110% effort every point. That doesn’t guarantee us anything, but that puts us in the best situation to score and to make the most of every point."
McDonald closed the match out the way they started it, beating Campbell in the fourth set, 25-21.
It’s been a tough stretch closing out the year for the Red Devils. They’ve gone up against some of the area’s best teams in Lakeview, Mineral Ridge and Hubbard.
While entering the tournament losing four of its last six contests, Campbell hopes that the lessons learned carry it in the postseason.
"I think they (applied what they’ve learned) tonight," Allen said. "I don’t think that we had the best effort on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I think we were too result and outcome oriented. We looked at the losses and just kind of packed it in, in some of those matches. Tonight, even though we lost, I think we really put our best foot forward. I think we really worked and we really fought tooth and nail. Credit to McDonald. They have a great coach. He always has their girls ready to go. They didn’t make many mistakes tonight. They really made us earn our points, and we made a few too many mistakes, but we really fought for everything that we got tonight."
Campbell opens its tournament run playing host to Western Reserve while McDonald hosts Oberlin.
Both games are set to start at 5 p.m. on Oct. 22.