KELSEYVILLE — North Central League I champion Kelseyville fell 25-19, 25-17, 25-15 to the Piedmont Highlanders on Wednesday night in the opening round of the North Coast Section Division IV volleyball playoffs.
Also on Wednesday, Humboldt-Del Norte League champion Arcata ended Middletown”s season with a 25-5, 25-13, 21-25, 25-18 first-round win at Arcata.
Kelseyville, the No. 9 playoff seed, closes out the season at 25-8. The Knights had won 13 straight matches heading into their playoff opener against the No. 8-seeded Highlanders (19-10), who move on to play No. 1 Marin Catholic (21-9) in the quarterfinals on Saturday night.
“My girls played the best match they”ve played all season tonight,” Kelseyville coach Donelle McCallister said. “Piedmont has six major hitters. Piedmont is phenomenal.”
Jeannie Johnson, who powered the Knights to the league title with her strong hitting this season, led the team with seven kills.
“She was hitting the ball really good,” McCallister said.
Kayla Zarate added six and two aces to the Kelseyville attack, Mary McCallister had a team-best 18 digs, and Riley Goff led the Knights with 14 assists.
Kelseyville”s coach also had high praise for the play of freshman libero Lauren Rudnick, who had 14 digs.
“She is freaking awesome,” McCallister said.
Middletown (20-13), the No. 11 seed in the 13-team Division IV field, managed to take a game from Arcata as Brianna Ortiz reeled off a string of aces in game three to give the Mustangs their lone win.
“We had a rough night, the first game was awful,” Middletown coach Jennifer Breiner said. “But they came back and played real well after that, fought real hard.”
Ortiz finished with 12 kills, eight digs and four aces to lead the Mustangs, who placed third in the NCL I race this season behind Kelseyville and St. Helena. Renee Edwards added 10 kills and two blocks, Heather Huston had five kills and six digs, and Arianna Diaz led the team with 13 assists.
“Arcata is huge,” Breiner said of the Tigers” tall front line. “They didn”t make any mistakes and we did. We don”t see that level of play very often and they (Tigers) play against it all the time.”
Middletown returns three starters next season as well as key reserves.
“I”m proud of my girls,” Breiner said.
