Clovis, Clovis East Go Down To Wire in Playoff Volleyball

Clovis High kept pressure on Clovis East defenders during the first two sets of Thursday’s playoff match. (Gabe Camarillo/Clovis Roundup)

It was Halloween Night and the Clovis Cougars had every reason to be scared out of their wits, headed into the decisive fifth set of their playoff opener against Clovis East.

The reason?

Clovis’ volleyball season was on the verge of complete collapse.

The Cougars stormed ahead in Thursday’s playoff match, taking the opening two sets over the visiting Timberwolves.

Yet, Clovis East fought through adversity and managed to frighten everyone in the Clovis High gymnasium by clawing back to tie the match at two sets apiece.

It all came down to 15 points; the first team to hit that number would advance to play Clovis West next Tuesday.

In such an intense moment of the game, Clovis head coach Richard Lake used the break before the fifth set to refocus his team.

“In between games, you saw a different team on the court,” said Lake. “I had the team realize this was playoffs. If we mess up, we don’t get to come back tomorrow and fix it.”

“They realized if we mess this up tonight, we’re done.”

The re-energized Cougars went on an 8-2 run in the fifth set, pushing them ahead to defeat the Clovis East Timberwolves Tuesday night, 25-17, 25-16, 17-25, 21-25, and 15-6.

The first two sets were won comfortably by Clovis High, which took advantage of errors and blocking woes by Clovis East.

“We were not putting up a very good block at all,” said Lynette Wilke-Lopez, head coach of Clovis East. “Our block was weak and our defense was not playing very well. We had a good game plan offensively, but our defense didn’t give us enough chances.”

All it took was the Cougars to put their guard down in the later sets – and Clovis East suddenly had tons of chances to score.

“When your down 2-0 like [Clovis East] was, you loosen up and you got nothing to lose,” said Lake. “They played hard and cleaned up their errors. On our side, we got on our heels and started playing not to lose.”

Clovis East won convincingly in the third set 25-17, before taking the fourth set – the closest of the match – by the score of 25-21. Through these sets, Clovis looked unfocused and the energy in Clovis’ home gym turned sour.

The question became real: Could Halloween evening turn into a night of horrors for the Cougars?

All concerns were squashed once the Cougars took a 6-2 lead to open the fifth set, garnering enough momentum to eliminate the Timberwolves with a 15-6 win in the final set.

It was the team’s “urgency” – as Coach Lake put it – that not only gave Clovis High a gritty playoff win, but saved the Cougars’ season.

Up next for Clovis (28-15) is a trip to Clovis West (25-10) for the section quarterfinals. First serve is at 6:00 PM Tuesday.

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Gabriel Camarillo has written for the Clovis Roundup since August 2019 and follows high school athletics, Fresno State football and former Clovis Unified student-athletes. Gabe also writes for The Collegian as a staff sports writer and works at One Putt Broadcasting as a board op for 940 ESPN radio.