MIDDLETOWN — Setting out to defend their North Central League I title in 2012, the Middletown Mustangs mowed down the Willits Wolverines 25-11, 25-9, 25-8 in the 2013 league opener for both teams on Tuesday night in Middletown.
“I was very happy with how we played,” Middletown coach Jennifer Breiner said. “Our passing was strong again and our serving was consistent.”
Brianna Ortiz led the way with six kills and seven aces — both team highs — and Heather Huston added three kills and two aces. Kristen Mays chipped in with two aces and two kills.
Middletown and St. Helena shared last year”s league championship, each going 12-2.
Middletown beat Willits in the junior varsity match 25-17, 25-20.
In other volleyball action Tuesday:
Clear Lake def. Cloverdale
At Lakeport, Clear Lake didn”t bring its “A” game into its league opener against Cloverdale, but fortunately neither did the Eagles. The Cardinals, behind a big night from Aliza Atkins, won 25-20, 26-24, 25-14.
Atkins led Clear Lake with 11 kills, four blocks, four digs and four aces. Logan Robinson anchored the defense with 13 digs and she also had a big night at the service line, running off eight straight point in game two as Clear Lake rallied from a 19-7 deficit to win. She finished with three aces on the night.
Cloverdale won the junior varsity match 25-23, 25-23 despite seven kills by Clear Lake”s Jasmine Rice and five more from Terra Morin. Emily Omiotek had 10 assists for the Cardinals.
St. Helena def. Kelseyville
At St. Helena, the Kelseyville Knights fell 25-19, 25-21, 25-22 to St. Helena in the NCL I opener for both teams.
“We were off our game tonight,” Kelseyville coach Donelle McCallister said. “St. Helena is a solid team, but they made errors too and we couldn”t take advantage.”
Kayla Zarate”s 11 kills led the Knights while Riley Goff had a team-high 15 digs. Mary McAllister added three aces and Kailyn Profitt had 11 digs.
St. Helena won the JV match 25-9, 25-10.
Fort Bragg def. Lower Lake
At Lower Lake, in a league opener that went the distance, the Fort Bragg Timberwolves beat the Lower Lake Trojans 20-25, 25-20, 25-20, 24-26, 15-9.
Brooke Taliaferro”s 14 kills powered the Trojans (0-1), who were playing well going into game two only to fall behind 9-0.
“We like to dig ourselves big holes,” Lower Lake coach Niki Doud said. “They actually played together, but it came too late.”
Zobee Miller had 10 kills and three blocks for the Trojans.
Lower Lake won the JV match 25-16, 25-19.
Boys” soccer
Middletown 3, Cloverdale 1
At Cloverdale, bouncing back from a 7-1 non-league loss to Anderson Valley on Monday, the Middletown Mustangs responded with their first league win of the season by beating the Cloverdale Eagles.
In a game where all the action took place in the first half, Middletown (1-4, 3-6) jumped out to a 3-0 lead on a Jonathan Wilson goal to open the scoring and two more goals from Jorge Morales, who also assisted on Wilson”s goal.
“I just had a hunch that game yesterday (against Anderson Valley) was going to help us today,” Middletown coach Chuck Rannells said.
Rannells also went with a “gut feeling” and moved Misael Lopez to keeper while moving his brother, Daniel Lopez, from keeper to the back line of the Middletown defense.
“He (Daniel) did a phenomenal job,” Rannells said. “The two brothers did awesome.”
While Middletown controlled the tempo of the game in the first half, it was the exact opposite in the second half.
“They had the ball on our side of the field a lot,” Rannells said. “We played smart soccer.”
Kelseyville 7, Clear Lake 3
At Lakeport, the Clear Lake Cardinals scored twice on penalty kicks and received two goals from Alejandro Cruz, but the Kelseyville Knights proved too tough in this NCL I battle.
Elias Alvarez scored twice to lead Kelseyville, now 3-1-1 in league and 4-3-1 overall. Clear Lake dropped to 0-5 in the NCL I standings and 0-7 overall.
“The boys are improving,” Clear Lake co-coach Tony Paskaly said.
Clear Lake standouts included Cruz, Esteban Sturr, Chandler Perry and Arturo Olmedo, who scored Clear Lake”s other goal. Sturr had an assist.
Enrique Cacho had three assists for the Knights while Cristian Macias added a goal and two assists.
“Macias is the motor on the team,” Kelseyville coach Eduardo Ledesma said.
Kelseyville went to its bench early and often against the Cardinals, who didn”t have a team last season and are still looking for their first win of the season.
“I think they”re going to need some time,” Ledesma said.
Omar Rodriguez, Giovanni Ruiz, Victor Cacho and Jonathan Villarreal also had goals for the Knights.
Girls” soccer
Clear Lake 4, Kelseyville 2
At Lakeport, Clear Lake jumped out to a 3-0 lead and went on to beat the Kelseyville Knights in NCL I action.
Clear Lake (4-1, 6-3) built a 3-0 halftime lead behind an early goal from Taylor Helms — just 73 seconds into the game — and two more from Hannah Norwood, one coming on a free kick.
Megan Touros go the Knights (0-5, 0-5) back to 3-2 by scoring twice midway through the second half. It remained a one-goal game until Emily Hayes scored for the Cardinals with 15 minutes remaining. Clear Lake had another goal disallowed on an offsides call.
“It was a really good game,” Kelseyville coach Dave Wold said of his team”s performance.
Miranda Logan moved to keeper in the second half for the Knights and allowed just the Hayes goal. She also stopped a penalty kick.
“She did amazing,” Wold said.
Standouts for the Cardinals were Crystal Zepeda and Adriana Guardado on defense and Norwood and Kelcie Reynolds on offense, according to Clear Lake coach Paul Larrea.
“Zepeda stepped up and did a really nice job,” Larrea said. “Guardado did another great job.”
Willits 6, Lower Lake 1
At Lower Lake, Gabby Jauregui”s 35-yard goal in the second half was the highlight for Lower Lake in a league loss to the Willits Wolverines, who led 5-0 after the first half.
“It was a beautiful goal,” Lower Lake coach Robynn Giese said of Jauregui”s long shot.
The Trojans (0-5, 1-5) also received solid play in the net from Dakota Welch, according to Giese.
