LOWER LAKE — The nice thing about seedings is they don”t mean squat once they”re assigned.
Just ask the eighth-seeded McKinleyville Panthers, who made the long trip to Lake County on Tuesday night only to lose to the ninth-seeded Lower Lake Trojans in the opening-round of the North Coast Section Division IV volleyball playoffs at Carl Delgado Gymnasium.
Lower Lake beat McKinleyville 25-15, 25-27, 23-25, 25-6, 15-10 to earn the right to advance in the single-elimination playoff format. The Trojans” next task will be formidable as they hit the road tonight to play No. 1 seed St. Mary”s of Berkeley in the quarterfinal round at St. Mary”s High School. St. Mary”s is one of only two league champions in the Division IV field — they won the Bayshore Athletic League while compiling a 26-8 regular-season record.
The other league champion is Lower Lake (21-13), the North Central League I North winner that went largely overlooked at the Division IV seeding meeting on Sunday in Walnut Creek, where the Trojans earned the second-lowest seed in the 10-team field.
“I was little upset,” Lower Lake Danessa Udy said of the outcome of Sunday”s seeding meeting. “I told the girls we”ve got something to prove.”
Trailing two games to one in the best-of-five match against McKinleyville, the Trojans blitzed the Panthers in game four and then won game five to complete their comeback.
“We”ve don”t that all season and it drives me crazy,” Udy said. “If we don”t feel challenged, we”ll do whatever. Once we”re challenged, we play much better.”
Amber Shoffeitt”s 14 kills powered Lower Lake at the net and Renita Gilliam added nine kills, two blocks and five aces. Darlena White chipped in with seven kills, Elisabeth Fortino had six kills, Tashee Denson added four kills, and setter Chelsey Fiedler registered 34 assists.
Going into tonight”s match against No. 1 St. Mary”s, Udy said the Trojans have to play the match of their lives in order to advance to Thursday”s semifinal round.
“They”re the No. 1 seed and everyone had them rated No. 1 (at the seeding meeting),” Udy said.
