FORT BRAGG — One step closer to another undefeated North Central League I North season are the Kelseyville Knights after a 25-2, 25-11, 25-8 rout of the Fort Bragg Timberwolves in varsity volleyball action on Tuesday night in Fort Bragg.
“We got five (wins) in the bank and three to go,” Kelseyville coach Larry Bresso said of the Knights” 5-0 North record. “We”re feeling pretty good about where we are.”
Kelseyville, 28-5 overall, spent most of Halloween night at the service line serving up treat after treat.
Lauren Giusti, filling in for the injured Amy Dawson, reeled off eight straight points and Katie King 10 straight in game one.
“We had only three servers in that game,” Bresso said.
And it was more of the same in game two. Giusti had another eight-point run and Lauren Nixon reeled off seven in a row.
King”s 11 kills led the Knights and Nixon and Jamie Stockman each had six. Nixon was the team leader in digs with 11, Giusti had a team-high six aces and Nixon had two blocks.
At the Northgate Tournament on Saturday in Walnut Creek, Kelseyville had two distinctly different experiences, according to Bresso.
“During pool play in the morning we played extremely poor,” Bresso said. “In the afternoon we played extremely well.”
Kelseyville beat Bentley High School of Lafayette, a new school, 25-11, 25-19 in its pool opener, but the Knights then lost to Chico 25-19, 27-25 and Albany 26-24, 25-20.
In the silver division playoffs later in the day, Kelseyville bounced back to beat Petaluma 25-10 and Concord 22-25, 25-20, 15-12 before falling to Drake 25-20, 25-22 in the silver division championship match.
Tournament leaders for the Knights were Stockman with 13 aces, King with 40 kills and 29 digs, and Nixon with 7 ? blocks.
M”town def. Willits
At Middletown, the Middletown Mustangs, trailing two games to one in their best-of-five NCL I North match with the Willits Wolverines, rallied for a 20-25, 25-22, 24-26, 25-20, 15-12 victory.
“They played great,” Middletown coach Dore Holt said. “They did awesome from start to finish and they didn”t give up. They were aggressive at the net all night.”
Middletown improved to 2-4 in the North standings while Willits fell to 3-3.
Kayla Wood turned in another strong effort for the Mustangs, pounding out 10 kills to go along with 12 digs, seven aces and seven assists. Julia Leathers added seven kills, 17 digs and five blocks, Nikeedra Davis had 13 digs and 11 assists, and Jessica Boylan finished with four kills, three blocks, eight digs and two aces.
“Jessica Boylan impressed me and keeps improving,” Holt said. “She was aggressive at the net, setting up blocks and hits. She played well all over.”
