ARCATA — After losing to Ukiah in straight sets in their first pool play match, the last thing the Clear Lake Cardinals and coach Marci Psalmonds were thinking about was advancing to the championship game of the Arcata Volleyball Tournament on Saturday in Arcata.
But that”s exactly what happened.
Clear Lake reeled off four straight victories, including an upset of heavily favored Central Valley High School in the quarterfinals, before falling 25-19, 28-26 to McKinleyville in the championship match.
“We did not play well,” Psalmonds said of a 25-13, 25-21 loss to Ukiah early on Saturday. “It was probably the worst match I”ve seen Jesse (Sondag) play,” Psalmonds said of her powerful sophomore outside hitter.
But the Cardinals turned things around in a hurry, beating Arcata 25-16, 25-8 and Fortuna 25-19, 25-15 to finish second in their pool behind Ukiah.
In the first round of the playoffs, Clear Lake pulled off the upset of the tournament, rallying past Central Valley for a 16-25, 25-22, 15-8 victory.
“It looked like the championship match and felt like the championship match,” Psalmonds said. “We played great.”
Clear Lake came back to beat Mendocino 25-22, 25-21 in the semifinals before falling to McKinleyville in the title match. McKinleyville defeated Ukiah to reach the finals.
After a tough start to her tournament, Sondag came roaring back to lead the Cardinals with 64 kills ? Briana Butcher had the next most with 39. Sondag also led Clear Lake with 32 service points, while Butcher added 28 and setter Katie Reynolds had 27 to go along with her 92 assists.
Two other standouts for the Cardinals were Rylie Gabehart, who had 19 kills, 31 points and eight blocks, and back row player Sarah Thompson.
“She (Thompson) did an awesome job in the back row digging up balls,” Psalmonds said.
Gabehart was the Cardinals” most consistent player, according to Psalmonds. “Just an all-around good tournament,” Psalmonds said. “She did everything well.”
Beating Central Valley was definitely the high point of the tournament for her Cardinals, according to Psalmonds.
“If we play like we did against Central Valley, we should be one of the top contenders in the North Central League,” Psalmonds said.
