KELSEYVILLE — There have been plenty of tough nights for Kelseyville High School varsity volleyball coach Donelle McCallister and her young and rebuilding Knights this season. Tuesday wasn”t one of them.
Led by Mandy Spitzer”s six kills, the Knights took care of business in a hurry with a 25-12, 25-16, 25-23 victory over the visiting Fort Bragg Timberwolves in a North Central League I North match.
“I think the girls are just getting comfortable,” McCallister said of a Kelseyville roster composed of one freshman, six sophomores, one junior and one senior.
Fort Bragg finished second in a tournament hosted by Kelseyville on Oct. 2 although the two teams never met.
“They probably didn”t expect much from us,” McCallister said. “They didn”t pass very well the first two games and that helped us.”
The Timberwolves were trying to make a comeback in game three and had a 23-19 lead when McCallister called a timeout. The Knights responded by winning the next six points to take the game and match.
Casey Graham and Bonnie McCallister led Kelseyville with three aces apiece. Jennifer Green and Kyra Rudnick had a good match passing the ball, according to their coach.
Kelseyville improved to 2-3 in the North standings while Fort Bragg fell to 1-3.
Lower Lake def. Clear Lake
At Lower Lake, Veronica Wilder”s eight kills and Kelsie Shoffeitt”s seven kills and four blocks led the Lower Lake Trojans to a 25-19, 25-22, 28-26 NCL I interlock victory over the Clear Lake Cardinals.
“It”s nice to win in three,” Lower Lake coach Danessa Udy said. “We were hitting well. When the passing is there, we can hit.”
Lower Lake”s April White added five kills and six blocks and Sara Sanders had five kills while filling in for starter Amber Daniels.
“She just does a great job at the net,” Udy said of White.
Jessica Asbury”s 10 kills paced the Cardinals, who once again were without starter Vanessa Tullos (knee). Heather White added five kills and Haley Garzoli added four kills, 10 service points and five digs.
“Garzoli was our most consistent player,” Clear Lake coach Marci Psalmonds said. “We played flat and couldn”t get anything going.”
St. Helena def. Upper Lake
At St. Helena, the Upper Lake Cougars joined the Maddy Densberger fan club on Tuesday after watching St. Helena”s senior outside hitter blaze away from the service line and the front line in a 25-11, 25-18, 25-8 NCL I South victory.
St. Helena, the defending South champion, improved to 4-0 in the league standings while Upper Lake fell to 1-3.
“She probably had 10 to 12 aces and at least 15 kills ? at least,” Upper Lake coach Sandy Coatney said of Densberger, who uses a jump serve.
Upper Lake”s best game was the second, according to Coatney.
“You”ve got to take what you can out of a match like that and in the second game we got the points that we could get,” he said. “We were diving for everything. We really hung in there in that second game.”
Katherine Edmonds led the Cougars with three kills, four aces and 17 digs. Emily Knispel and Olivia Carter had three kills and 13 digs apiece.
