ST. HELENA — Missing a chance to put away the St. Helena Saints in the first three games, the Clear Lake Cardinals ended up paying a huge price ? quite possibly a league championship.
St. Helena rallied from a 2-1 deficit to beat Clear Lake 25-22, 16-25, 23-25, 25-20, 15-2 in a battle for sole possession of first place atop the North Central League I varsity volleyball standings Wednesday night in St. Helena.
The Saints (11-1) now lead the Cardinals (10-2) by a game in the standings with two league matches remaining for both teams. The only way Clear Lake can get a piece of the title now is by winning its final matches against Kelseyville (3-7) and Middletown (1-10) and hope that St. Helena somehow stumbles in one of its final two against Fort Bragg (3-8) or Willits (4-6).
In many ways Wednesday”s match was similar to the one played Oct. 4 in Lakeport, where Clear Lake lost the first two games against the Saints before rallying to win the next three.
“We could have beaten them in three,” Clear Lake coach Marci Psalmonds said while looking back on a game one during which the Cardinals led late but couldn”t hold on.
“We had chances to win the first and fourth games and didn”t do it,” Psalmonds said.
As competitive as the first four games were, Game 5 was a complete meltdown on the part of the Cardinals, according to Psalmonds, who said the team”s passing game disappeared.
“We couldn”t pass it and we fell behind 8-0,” she said.
Overall Psalmonds said the Cardinals did play well.
“Both teams played awesome, we just didn”t show up for that last game,” she said.
Vanessa Tullos” 15 kills and four aces paced the Cardinals, who are headed for the North Coast Section Division IV playoffs following the end of the regular season next week. Anna Westin also came up big with 12 kills and four blocks, and Jessica Asbury had eight kills and nine blocks.
“Darn it,” Psalmonds said. “We could have won this thing.”
Clear Lake hosts Kelseyville and St. Helena is home against Fort Bragg on Tuesday.
