CLINTON — Coming from behind to win a Mississippi Athletic Conference match is nothing new for the Clinton volleyball team.

The River Queens have done just that in four of their past five MAC wins, dating back to last year. But that didn’t make Clinton’s 25-19, 22-25, 17-25, 25-17, 15-12 win over Davenport Assumption on Tuesday any less exciting.

“I’m very excited,” Clinton senior Alyssa Wing said. “They were second in the MAC, and now they’re not. I’m not trying to be mean. ... We knew it was going to be a very close game. And obviously the fifth game is super exciting because it’s a short game. It’s back-and-forth and it was so intense. It’s just really nice to win. I hate losing more than I love winning, but it was very nice to win.”

Clinton (15-6, 3-1 MAC) didn’t make it easy. The River Queens trailed 7-3 in Game 5, when coach Mark Massey called a timeout.

Clinton setter Monique Harris said the team’s attitude changed after that timeout.

“We started to play to win, not to not lose,” she said. “It was do-or-die. We had to go then. We couldn’t wait any longer.”

Erin Wenzel scored Clinton’s next three points on kills and the River Queens pulled to 9-6.

“I feel like you get more of a drive to come back and win when you’re down,” Wenzel said. “When you’re up, you’re in this mellow stage where you’re like, ‘OK, we’re good. We’re good.’ But you’re not.”

Then Wing knocked down her first kill of the fifth game. After a hitting error by Assumption (12-3, 3-2), Wing delivered another kill to tie the game at 9.

Assumption scored the next point, but Wing delivered back-to-back kills to put the River Queens ahead 11-10.

“We picked it up,” Wing said. “We were passing well and we were setting well and we were hitting well. We were blocking and getting good serves. It all worked together.”

Danielle Cabel countered with a kill for the Knights to tie the score at 11. Then Gabby Haan made a pass from off the court to Harris. Instead of setting it, Harris tipped the ball over the net with her left hand.

“I was just praying it went down,” Harris said. “I was hoping they couldn’t dig it. They were digging my tip all night, so I was really hoping they didn’t get that one.”

They didn’t, and Harris’ seventh kill, to go along with 48 assists, put Clinton ahead for good.

Harris served an ace to put Clinton ahead 13-11. Then the teams traded violations, leaving Clinton with a 14-12 advantage. Wing served the next point and the ball didn’t come back over the net as Cabel hit the ball into the net on an attack attempt.

“Oh my God, I don’t even know,” Harris said when asked what she was thinking right after they won. “A whole bunch of stuff like, ‘I can’t believe we won. I can’t believe she screwed it up for them.’”

Wing knocked down seven of her match-high 27 kills in Game 4.



Game 1 was tight until Wing and Harris took over. Clinton led 14-13 and Harris scored on back-to-back tip kills. After an Assumption kill by Hailey Schneden, the River Queens scored four points in a row — three on kills by Wing and one on an ace by Harris — to go ahead 20-14. Assumption didn’t get closer than three after that.

That’s when Clinton hit a lull and Assumption took over, winning the next two games.

“It’s so frustrating, it really is,” Wing said. “We get up and we’re fine. But then we get in this stupid little rut that we always get in.”

Massey and his team credited the Clinton fans with helping pull the River Queens out of the rut.

“We use all of our energy the first game,” Wenzel said. “Then the next two we’re just dead. But we know we have to bring it hard and win the game. All these people come to support us. They all want us to win. They seriously bring us up so much.”

With Clinton’s win and North Scott’s loss to Pleasant Valley on Tuesday, the River Queens are a half game behind North Scott and Pleasant Valley — both 4-1 — in the MAC standings. Assumption, Betten-dorf and Muscatine are 3-2.

“We feel really good,” Wing said. “Beating Assumption and Muscatine, that helped our confidence a lot. We definitely bumped up our confidence. We picked it up as a team, and we realized the potential that we have. We realized, ‘Hey, we can be MAC champions again this year. We can go further than the first round in regionals.’ We’re really seeing our potential and it’s starting to kick in.”



Clinton JV falls in three

The junior varsity match went down to the wire as well, with Assumption topping the River Queens 17-21, 22-20, 15-12.

Griffin Rasche and McKenzie Petersen each had four kills to lead Clinton, with Jordan Nelson dishing out seven assists.

Hannah Dehner and Gabby Haan each had 11 digs for the River Queens.



Assumption tops sophomores

Rhegan Paulsen knocked down seven kills and served two aces for the Clinton sophomores, but it wasn’t enough as Assumption emerged with a 25-22, 25-20 victory.

Raven Jones led the Queens with 10 assists.



CLINTON 25-22-17-25-15, ASSUMPTION 19-25-25-17-12

Kills — Assumption (Danielle Cabel 19, Hailey Schneden 17, Jamie White 8); Clinton (Alyssa Wing 27, Erin Wenzel 12, Elle Tubbs 7, Monique Harris 7, Marquel Schultheis 6). Assists — Assumption (Kate Fennelly 45); Clinton (Harris 48, Devin Matheny 5). Ace serves — Assumption (Alex Donovan 4, Cabel 3); Clinton (Harris 2, Schultheis, Griffin Rasche). Blocks — Assumption (Schneden 5, Cabel 2, Fennelly 2, Madi Smith 2); Clinton (Wenzel 2, Tubbs 2, Matheny, Harris, Wing). Digs — Assumption (Sydney Lunardi 29, Lexi Flynn 21); Clinton (Harris 19, Wing 18, Gabby Haan 14, Hannah Dehner 13).