BRODHEAD — Brodhead held its conference home opener against Clinton Sept. 17, and the home court advantage brought the best out of the Cardinals as they swept the Cougars 25-9, 25-12, 25-10.

“We knew Clinton was going to come with some stuff tonight, so we were prepared for that,” Brodhead head coach Erin Kammerer said. “Being our first home match — we’ve had a lot of matches on the road — they were excited to show what they’ve been working so hard for the last three weeks. It was fun that they could show it off tonight with a great student section.”

After a Cardinal attack error, Brodhead found its footing to take a 7-2 lead. After a Cougar timeout, Clinton went on its greatest run of the first set, taking advantage of an overpass and hitting angles. But a kill by Chesney Walker, assisted by Gretchen Kammerer, put Addie Leifker to the line to continue what ended up being an 8-point rally.

Walker had back-to-back kills, switching it up between a tip and spike kill. That’s when Leifker recorded four straight aces, targeting all parts of the floor.

“It’s super exciting getting a lot of aces,” Leifker said. “We’ve been working on cheering for all the little things lately. If we don’t, we tend to get down on ourselves.”

Leifker’s final ace, aimed at Clinton’s Kailee Yoss, put Brodhead ahead 16-6.

After a couple Cardinal errors, Clinton failed to return a free ball, sending Allie Dahl to the line. She kept the rally going, chipping in with a kill from the back row and service ace. Her set point went into the net, but Brodhead won 25-9 with a kill from Taya Anderson. 

In the first set, Clinton had just three offensive points. The remaining came off Brodhead errors.

The two teams traded points early in the set before a Cougar lift sparked a 6-point Cardinal rally. Walker read the defense and tipped the ball to the left of the block for a kill. Leifker also had back-to-back aces during the run, where the Cougar defense just watched the ball drop.

Leifker’s service error gave service to Clinton, but Brodhead was able to extend its lead to 17-7 with a kill from Brynn Reisterer. Later in the set, Reisterer tallied another kill. At first, she was blocked, but she got a second chance and changed up the speed for a tip kill.

Walker put the second set away, 25-12, with a block.

Once again, Brodhead limited Clinton to just five offense points.

The Cougars had their best start in the third set, taking a 5-3 lead. But the Cardinals got the serve back with a tip from Walker. With the ball back in her hand, Leifker knotted the set at 6-6 with an ace. 

Clinton had just one more score, a kill from left-side hitter Sadie Yeadon. A Cougar blocking error put them behind 19-9, an insurmountable deficit. Kammerer keyed up set point with an ace, and Anderson hit it home. 

Walker led the offense, smashing seven kills in 16 attempts with just two errors for a .313 hitting percentage. Leifker and Kammerer distributed the offense with a combined 17 assists. Schoof and Leifker were all over the floor with 14 and 15 digs, respectively. As a team, the Cardinals had 16 aces, led by Leifker with nine.