UPPER LAKE — The Clear Lake Cardinals moved a step closer to their season-ending showdown with the St. Helena Saints by beating Upper Lake 25-18, 25-21, 25-13 in a North Central League I South varsity volleyball match at Upper Lake.
Clear Lake (6-1) needs a win tonight in St. Helena (6-0) to earn at least a share of the NCL I South title. St. Helena beat Clear Lake in five games earlier this season at Lakeport.
“I was real impressed with their consistency and the way they managed to get so much off the floor,” Upper Lake coach Sandy Coatney said of the Cardinals.
Upper Lake (3-4) closes out the season Thursday in Cloverdale, needing a win to get to the .500 mark.
“It would be nice to finish .500,” Coatney said.
Katy DeVries had seven kills and five blocks to lead the Cougars. Jackie Lovrin added five kills, Hannah Johnson had 20 digs and four kills, and Thon Chao led the team with 27 digs.
“There were some real nice rallies but in the end they beat us probably on consistency,” Coatney said. “We had too many errors in the long run even though we played well at times.”
Sophomore Jesse Sondag led the Cardinals with nine kills, six of those in the final game, eight digs, seven points and four aces. Terry Colva added five kills and three blocks and Danielle Howard also had five kills.
Upper Lake did win the junior varsity match 25-17, 25-12 behind the front-row play of Katherine Edmunds, who had four kills on four arm swings.
