LAKEPORT — A 20-25, 25-20, 25-12, 25-21 home victory over the Willits Wolverines was sweet music to Clear Lake”s ears on Thursday night as the Cardinals maintained their share of first place in the North Central League I varsity volleyball standings.
Clear Lake senior middle hitter Jessica Asbury came up big for the Cardinals as they enter the home stretch of the NCL I race. The Cardinals and St. Helena are tied at 9-1 with four matches remaining for each team, including a head-to-head meeting next Thursday in St. Helena.
Asbury led the team with 15 kills, five blocks and three aces.
“She”s coming on right now, which is nice,” Psalmonds said of Asbury. “Jess did a did good job, she played well.”
Anna Westin added six kills and Vanessa Tullos had five.
In other volleyball action Thursday:
St. Helena def. Lower Lake
At Lower Lake, in a match the Lower Lake Trojans desperately needed, the St. Helena Saints rolled to a 25-16, 25-12, 25-11 victory.
“It was absolutely horrible,” Lower Lake coach Danessa Udy said of the Trojans” performance. “We were down 8-0 in the first game and it continued to go downhill from there.”
Lower Lake also trailed 7-0 in the second and third games.
“We need to work on our mental game and I don”t know how to do it,” Udy said.
St. Helena improved to 9-1 in league play while Lower Lake slipped to 7-3.
Danacka Whitting-ton”s overall play was one of the few bright spots, according to Udy.
“She”s our most consistent player,” Udy said.
Upper Lake def. Tomales
At Tomales, the Upper Lake Cougars, coming off a big five-game win Tuesday against St. Vincent, needed the minimum three games to beat the Tomales Braves 25-23, 25-20, 25-18 in NCL II action.
Upper Lake and St. Vincent are tied for the NCL II lead with 4-1 records and each team has one league match left.
Kat Edmonds and Olivia Carter led the Cougars. Edmonds had eight kills and three aces while Carter finished with seven kills and four aces. Amber McQueen added six kills, BobbieLynn Collins had five and Vansessa Hanson three. Hanson also recorded three blocks.
Kelseyville def. Cloverdale
At Cloverdale, Kelseyville rallied with wins in games four and five to beat the Cloverdale Eagles 24-26, 28-26, 22-25, 26-24, 15-12 in a NCL I marathon.
Jennifer Green had a huge night for Kelseyville with 12 kills and 11 aces. Jeannie Johnson also came up big for the Knights with 14 kills and four aces.
Kelseyville”s back row of Kyra Rudnick, Mary McCallister and Dakota Rixen combined for 37 digs.
Abby McQueen”s passing was another factor in the win, according to Kelseyville coach Donelle McCallister.
n Fort Bragg def.
Middletown
At Middletown, the Fort Bragg Timberwolves avenged a loss in their first league meeting with Middletown by beating the Mustangs this time around 17-25, 25-16, 25-23, 14-25, 15-10.
Aly Mino led Middletown with eight kills and four aces and Krystina Riccio added five aces and four kills. Other team leaders were Rachel Sutton with seven aces and Sophie Marshall with four kills.
“It was a fun game, we just came out on the wrong end,” Middletown coach Suzanne Riccio said.
Boys soccer
Kelseyville 5, Middletown 0
At Middletown, Oscar Martinez scored three goals, two of them in the first half, and the Kelseyville Knights shut out the Middletown Mustangs in NCL I action.
Kelseyville improved to 9-2-1 in the league standings and 11-4-1 overall and has two league games remaining against Clear Lake and Lower Lake.
“We played well for the first 20 minutes (of the first half),” Middletown coach Chuck Rannells said. “We just couldn”t figure out how to break that defense,” Kelseyville coach Eduardo Ledesma added.
Jorge Garcia finally did, scoring the first goal of the game. Martinez added two more goals to make it 3-0 and Luis Rodrigues scored a few minutes later to make it 4-0 at the half.
Jonathan Cruz started the game at keeper for the Knights and played well before leaving with a thumb injury. Adrian Mejia replaced him.
“We had some chances to score but we couldn”t capitalize,” Rannells added.
St. Helena 3, Clear Lake 0
At Lakeport, St. Helena scored twice on penalty kicks and beat the Clear Lake Cardinals in NCL I action.
Two Clear Lake players received red cards, which means they must sit out the Cardinals” next game.
“I only have 10 players left,” Clear Lake Luis Martinez said.
St. Helena was held scoreless until the second half.
Girls soccer
St. Helena 2, Clear Lake 1
At Lakeport, after beating Middletown at Middletown on Tuesday, the St. Helena Saints notched another big road victory, this time against Clear Lake.
The Saints, who have two league losses like Middletown, broke a 1-1 tie early in the second half.
Savannah Dekeyer”s goal for Clear Lake early in the second half knotted the game at 1. St. Helena had a 1-0 lead at halftime.
Clear Lake forward Telia Paskaly sustained a knee injury in the loss, according to Larrea, who said the injury was being evaluated.
“It was a hard-fought game,” Larrea said. “We”ll regroup and go at it next week.”
Clear Lake is 10-1-1 in league and 16-3-2 overall.
Middletown 11, Kelseyville 0
At Middletown, Hannah Diaz and Emily Reed scored three goals apiece and Kelly Wilkinson added two more as the Middletown Mustangs shut out the Kelseyville Knights in NCL I girls” soccer action.
Kaylee Cash, Kylie Agapoff and Paloma Colacion also scored for the Mustangs, who improved to 10-2 in league play and 14-3 overall.
“I had great play out of all the girls,” Middletown coach Lee Hoage said.
Middletown led 6-0 after the first half.
St. Vincent 7, Upper Lake 0
At Upper Lake, the Upper Lake Cougars closed out their NCL II schedule with a loss to champion St. Vincent.
The Cougars (0-4, 3-10-1) trailed just 2-0 after one half but were without left-midfielder Krista Coleman in the second half because of an ankle injury. Another Upper Lake starter missed the game because of illness, leaving coach Mike Sheets with just one player on his bench.
“We did a little better than I expected considering the injuries and illness,” Sheets said.
Standouts for Upper Lake on defense were Jamie Henry and keeper Amber Drake, who had 19 saves.
Cross country
Clear Lake def. Lower Lake
At Petaluma, the Clear Lake Cardinals swept the Lower Lake Trojans in head-to-head scoring at a Coastal Mountain Conference cross country meet at Helen Putnam Park in Petaluma. Host St. Vincent and Rincon Valley Christian were also present.
Clear Lake”s varsity boys beat Lower Lake 23-35 while both the Cardinal varsity girls and junior varsity boys defeated incomplete Lower Lake squads.
Audel Torres of Lower Lake won the 2.8-mile varsity boys” race in 17 minutes, 9 seconds. Torres and runner-up Brice Beare of Clear Lake (17:51) were the only two runners to crack 18 minutes.
“He”s going to be one of the top runners in the CMC,” Clear Lake coach Peter Stanley said of Beare. “He keeps improving. His hard work is paying off.”
Jacob Blue of Clear Lake finished fourth overall in 18:41 and Lower Lake”s Zef Roofner was fifth in 19:08.
Four of the next six placers were Clear Lake runners. Ryan Hodges was seventh in 19:19, Cody Scully was eighth in 19:37, Connor Disney was ninth in 19:39 and Jose Estrada was 11th in 19:47.
“Grouping runners together is how you win races,” Stanley said.
Madison Provost of St. Vincent won the varsity girls” race in 20:14, Alison Bricker of Rincon Valley Christian was second in 20:55, and Kelsie Lawson of Clear Lake was third in 21:10.
“Kelsie ran real well,” Stanley said.
The Clear Lake runner showing the most improvement was Savanah Rasmussen, who finished 14th in 28:47.
In the JV boys” race, Christian Vander Jagt of Clear Lake held off teammate Josh Tate to win. Vander Jagt finished in 19:53 to Tate”s 19:54.
The third- and fourth-place runners were also from Clear Lake ? Kenyon Donald (20:54) and Nathan Williams (21:59).
