LAKEPORT — Led by libero Molly Landers, Branson High School of Ross defeated McKinleyville 25-16, 25-12 in the championship match Saturday to end a busy day of volleyball at the Clear Lake Tournament in Lakeport.
Joining the five Lake County schools in the field — Clear Lake, Kelseyville, Upper Lake, Lower Lake and Middletown — were Branson, McKinleyville and Ukiah.
Branson beat Upper Lake 25-9, 25-15 in one of two semifinal matches and McKinleyville defeated Lower Lake 25-23, 14-25, 15-13 in the other.
Landers earned most valuable player honors and clearly was the tournament”s top player, according to Clear Lake coach and tournament director Marci Psalmonds.
“She”s a stud,” Psalmonds said of Landers. “She didn”t let anything hit the floor.”
Lower Lake”s Amber Shoffeitt and Upper Lake”s Samantha Bullard also were named to the All-Tournament team (the complete tournament box is on Page A8).
Host Clear Lake lost to McKinleyville in the single-elimination playoffs, which followed pool play, by a 25-19, 25-21 count. It turned out to be a costly defeat as two of Psalmonds” top players, Danielle Howard (shoulder) and Kirsten Wascom (knee), had to depart the match with injuries.
Freshman Jesse Sondag led Clear Lake with 35 kills. Howard added 15 kills, 12 digs and 13 service points while Wascom had 14 kills and eight blocks.
