NAPA — The Clear Lake Cardinals put up a battle for the first two games before falling to Justin-Siena in the opening round of the North Coast Section Division IV volleyball playoffs on Wednesday night in Napa.
Justin-Siena, the No. 7 seed, beat the 10th-seeded Cardinals 25-23, 21-25, 25-13, 25-17.
“The first two games were tight and fast-paced, lots of kills,” Clear Lake coach Marci Psalmonds said. “But we let way up in the third game and we fell behind 23-10 in the fourth game before we started to battle back, but it was too late.”
Vanessa Tullos (12 kills and four aces) and Jessica Asbury (12 kills, three aces) led the Cardinals, who finish the season 24-10. Anna Westin added nine kills, Coree Alexander had a team-high 24 digs, and setter Morgan Psalmonds had 33 assists.
“We never said die, that”s what I”m proud of,” Psalmonds said. “Coree played her best defensive game of the year. She dug up everything.”
In other playoff volleyball action Wednesday:
Cardinal Newman def. Lower Lake
At Santa Rosa, the Lower Lake Trojans dropped a 25-15, 25-21, 25-13 decision to Cardinal Newman in another Division IV first-round match.
Adrina Miller led the Trojans (15-16) with 10 kills, Kelsie Shoffeitt had five blocks and Jessica Wilson added four aces. Other standouts were Danacka Whittington and Shadae White, acc-ording to coach Danessa Udy, who is stepping down after 18 seasons as the varsity coach.
“Danacka put the ?D” in defense and Shadae did a great job,” Udy said. “They played pretty well.”
Marin Academy def. Upper Lake
At San Rafael, the Upper Lake Cougars ended their season with a 25-5, 25-12, 25-8 loss to Marin Academy in the first round of the Division V playoffs.
The Cougars were without three starters, including kills leader Kat Edmonds, who missed the game because of illness.
Upper Lake closes out the year at 13-11.
