KELSEYVILLE — Suddenly the Deanna Goff-coached Kelseyville Knights look a lot like the Larry Bresso-coached Kelseyville Knights. They just win.
Kelseyville won the first two games Tuesday night against Lower Lake, dropped the next two, then rallied to take the fifth game for a 25-22, 25-18, 12-25, 21-25, 15-9 victory over the Trojans in a North Central League I North varsity volleyball match at Kelseyville.
“I just told them to get the job done so we could get out of here one way or another,” said Goff of her pre-game five advice to her players.
Since the NCL was aligned into Northern and Southern divisions, Kelseyville has dominated the North, first under former coach Bresso, who retired at the end of the 2006 season, and now under Goff, who watched the Knights improve to 3-0.
Casey Bowlin turned in a king-sized effort for Kelseyville with 26 digs, 11 kills, 14 service points and three aces, and Kaitlyn Goff was right behind her with 21 digs, 13 kills eight points, two aces and a block.
“She got it going,” Goff said of Bowlin.
Goff said she was impressed with the hitting of Lower Lake”s Amber Shoffeitt and Darlena White.
“When they”re hitting, they”re really something,” Lower Lake coach Danessa Udy said. “But our hitting was just not happening the first two games. We didn”t hit the ball as well as we usually do.”
Serving errors once again hurt the Trojans, who made 21.
Shoffeitt and White each finished with eight kills. Renita Gilliam added five kills and a team-best seven blocks.
In other volleyball action Tuesday:
St. Vincent def. Clear Lake in five games
At Lakeport, South-leading St. Vincent improved to 3-0, albeit barely, by turning back the upstart Clear Lake Cardinals 25-21, 30-32, 25-10, 21-25, 15-13.
“Best we”ve played all year,” Clear Lake coach Marci Psalmonds said. “A lot of ”em came to play tonight and that was great to see. They poured out their hearts.”
Clear Lake”s trio of big hitters pounded away at the visiting Mustangs. Freshman Jesse Sondag led the way with 23 kills, nine digs and 12 points, while Kirsten Howard added 10 kills, nine digs and 13 points. Kirsten Wascom played her best match of the season, according to Psalmonds, and finished with 11 kills, six blocks, eight points and three aces.
Middletown def. Fort Bragg in four
At Middletown, Jessica Boylan pounded out a season-best 15 kills to go along with two aces and the Middletown Mustangs beat Fort Bragg 25-23, 10-25, 25-19, 25-20 in NCL I North action.
Middletown improves to 2-0 in the North standings with the win and will host 3-0 Kelseyville on Thursday.
Kayla Wood and Kelsey Guzman each had 10 kills for the Mustangs and Wood also had a team-best nine aces.
Boys” soccer
Kelseyville 5, Willits 2
At Willits, behind two goals each from Osvaldo Rojas and Andres Macias, the Kelseyville Knights bounced back from a 4-0 loss to Fort Bragg on Friday with a victory over the Willits Wolverines.
Field conditions were treacherous following a week of on-and-off rain in the Willits area, according to Kelseyville coach Eduardo Ledesma. “Everybody was slipping and sliding (in the mud). The whole field was terrible.”
David Koeppel had the only goal in the first half as the Knights (4-2 league, 7-4 overall) went up 1-0. Rojas and Macias picked up the scoring pace in the second half as Kelseyville maintained its lead throughout the game.
Cloverdale 6, Clear Lake 2
At Lakeport, Cloverdale scored five unanswered goals in the first half and cruised to an easy NCL I South victory over the Clear Lake Cardinals.
Minus stopper Ivan Sanchez, the Cardinals struggled on defense all game long, according to Clear Lake coach Brian Figg.
“We had to come up with a different defense without Ivan and it just didn”t work,” Figg said. “We couldn”t stop their attack.”
Armando Martinez and Renaud Misslin scored in the second half for Clear Lake, now 2-3 in the South standings.
Fort Bragg 5, Lower Lake 0
At Fort Bragg, NCL I North-leading Fort Bragg limited Lower Lake to just four shots on goal while shutting out the Trojans.
Turning in solid outings for Lower Lake were keeper Leopoldo Arroyo and defender Jose Garcia.
The Trojans (1-4, 3-8-1) host Kelseyville on Thursday.
Girls” soccer
Clear Lake 3, Cloverdale 0
At Lakeport, Clear Lake regrouped from a 3-1 non-league loss to Sonoma Academy on Saturday by beating the Cloverdale Eagles in NCL I South action. The Cardinals improved to 3-1-1 in the South standings and 10-4-4 overall.
Clear Lake tied Cloverdale 1-1 last month in Cloverdale but dominated the Eagles this time around.
“We played really, really well,” Larrea said.
Standouts on defense were marking back-turned-stopper Logan Brodnansky and marking back Megan McDonald. On the offensive end, forwards Julie Jackson, Kaila Sterbank and Anisa Green stood out, according to Larrea.
Amber McKinney”s goal in the first half made it 1-0. Jackson scored twice in the second half.
St. Helena 2, Middletown
At St. Helena, coming off a tough NCL I North loss to Fort Bragg on Monday, the Middletown Mustangs fell to St. Helena in NCL I interlock action.
“The girls didn”t look winded at all,” Middletown coach Louise Owens said. “It was a very evenly matched game again.”
Middletown (6-7-1) kept St. Helena off the scoreboard until the 57th minute. The Saints scored again in the 70th minute for a 2-0 lead.
The Mustangs came within a few inches of breaking the shutout in the 75th minute when freshman Katilyn Agapoff nearly scored.
“She had her foot on the ball on the goal line, but the goalie pounced on it,” Owens said.
Teina Moore played nearly 50 minutes after playing only 10 minutes in the loss to Fort Bragg. She has been sidelined much of the season with a knee injury.
Both teams had an equal number of shots on goal, according to Owens, but the Mustangs once again struggled to find the net.
“We”re just not capitalizing on our chances,” Owens said.
