ST. HELENA >> Despite playing one of their better matches of the season, the Kelseyville Knights simply couldn”t touch the St. Helena Saints in a North Central League I varsity volleyball battle for first place on Thursday night in St. Helena.
St. Helena won 25-20, 25-17, 25-18 to remain undefeated in league play at 8-0. Kelseyville (6-2) needed a victory to pull into a tie for first. The Knights had won six straight since losing to the Saints in four sets back on Sept. 23 in Kelseyville, the league opener for both teams.
“They were super powerful ? powerful,” Kelseyville coach Donelle McCallister said. “Our girls played really well, we just didn”t have the firepower they do.”
Abby McQueen logged seven kills for the Knights and Carli Mendonca had three aces. Setters Riley Goff and Mary McCallister both turned in solid efforts as well, according to McCallister.
“The whole team contributed,” McCallister said. “They all did their jobs.”
St. Helena rallied to win the junior varsity match 20-25, 25-14, 15-13.
In other volleyball action Thursday:
Clear Lake def. Cloverdale
At Lakeport, after losing a five-set league match at home to Fort Bragg on Tuesday, the Clear Lake Cardinals rallied to beat the visiting Cloverdale Eagles in five sets two days later.
“It was really a team effort, everyone played great,” Clear Lake coach Marci Psalmonds said of the come-from-behind 28-30, 25-9, 13-25, 25-23, 15-9 victory, a win that avenges a five-set loss in Cloverdale earlier this season.
“Our goal in the second half is to get the people who got us in the first half (of league play),” Psalmonds said.
Aliza Atkins powered the Cardinals (4-4) with 11 kills, four blocks, 16 digs and three aces, but she had a lot of company. Logan Robinson added seven kills and 12 digs, Rachel Wingler had six kills, three aces and nine digs, Jasmine Rice came off the bench to add three kills and three blocks, and Kiana Richardson had three kills, four blocks and three aces.
Clear Lake”s JV squad improved to 7-1 in league play with a 25-9, 25-23 win over Cloverdale. Valerie Hutton led the way with eight kills and teammate Corin Alakszay added five kills.
Middletown def. Willits
At Middletown, the Middletown Mustangs took over sole possession of third place in the NCL I standings with a 25-9, 25-19, 25-4 victory over the winless Willits Wolverines.
Renee Edwards had another big night for the Mustangs (5-3) with 13 kills, 13 aces and one block. Ginacia Dusatko added 10 kills, five blocks and four aces while Emily Lescher had two kills, three aces and a block. Transfer student Jess DeSilva made her Middletown debut and had two kills and two blocks.
Middletown won the JV match 25-14, 22-25, 15-13.
Upper Lake def. St. Vincent
At Upper Lake, Upper Lake lost the first two sets but surged back to stun St. Vincent 12-25, 23-25, 25-17, 28-26, 15-13 in NCL II action.
“They put everything they had into it,” Upper Lake coach Raelene Cromwell said.
Sierra Fugate led the Cougars with 10 kills, Autum Martinez added nine kills and both Jojo Augustine and LaShaye Taylor had eight kills apiece. Setter Heather Hankins also had a big night with 30 assists.
Upper Lake”s JV remained undefeated in league play with a 25-20, 29-27 win. Cristina Wilson led the way with four kills, seven points, three aces and nine digs.
Fort Bragg def. Lower Lake
At Lower Lake, the Fort Bragg Timberwolves beat the Lower Lake Trojans 25-16, 23-25, 25-10, 22-25, 15-8 in NCL I play.
It was Fort Bragg”s second straight league win and Lower Lake”s second straight five-set loss.
“We rally, go up and down, but we just can”t finish,” Lower Lake coach Darcie Schmidt said.
Setter Bailey DeLong had 24 assists for the Trojans (2-6) while Ashlynn Mock led the team with seven kills. Shelbie Harris added six kills and Brooke Taliaferro and Jolene Scarborough had five apiece.
Girls” soccer
M”town 2, St. Helena 2 (tie)
At Middletown, Aly Ferguson”s goal in the 64th minute wiped out a 2-1 St. Helena lead and enabled the undefeated Middletown Mustangs to salvage a tie against the Saints, who had an 11-to-10 man advantage for most of the second half.
Middletown”s Rosie Emerson picked up a yellow card near the end of a 1-1 first half and received a red card five minutes into the second half.
The Mustangs, now 9-0-1 in league and 12-1-2 overall, also played without starter Madison Ketchum (foot injury).
Kaleigh Alves scored an unassisted goal in the first half for Middletown. Courtney Gillies assisted on Ferguson”s game-tying goal in the second half.
“I”m just proud of how well they played in the second half a player down,” Middletown coach Amy Emerson said. “We allowed just the one goal.”
Middletown opened the game in a 4-4-2 alignment instead of its normal 4-3-3.
“We didn”t play well at all, that was my fault,” Emerson said.
Clear Lake 2, Lower Lake 1
At Lakeport, down 1-0 early against the Lower Lake Trojans, Clear Lake rallied for a 2-1 victory on Taylor Helms” tie-breaking goal in the second half.
Lower Lake (0-9-1, 1-9-1) packed its players back on defense to make it difficult for the Cardinals (6-3-1, 12-5-2), who finally broke through on Maddie Wynacht”s goal in the first half.
“A win is a win,” Clear Lake coach Paul Larrea said. “Other than the one goal we gave up, which was a defensive mistake, we controlled the game. We took care of what we needed to do and that was get a win.”
Lower Lake advanced the ball past midfield only once in the second half, according to Larrea.
Clear Lake had 39 shots on goal.
Standouts for the Cardinals were Wynacht on offense, Crystal Zepeda on defense and Emily Hayes all over.
“She played every position but keeper,” Larrea said of Hayes.
Upper Lake 3, Anderson Valley 3
At Upper Lake, in Wednesday action, Julia Mooney scored two goals for Upper Lake in a tie with Anderson Valley. Mooney”s second goal briefly gave Upper Lake a 3-2 lead before the Panthers tied it at the 70-minute mark.
Mooney and Sheyla Ayala scored in the first half for the Cougars (0-11-2).
Boys” soccer
M”town 2, St. Helena 0
At Middletown, Middletown”s defense stepped it up a notch and shut out NCL I title contender St. Helena.
“We played a really good game ? we played our game,” Middletown coach Luis Chairez said. “St. Helena has some really good players and we shut them down.”
Jorge Morales scored in the first half for the Mustangs (3-7, 3-9) and Ervin Borges scored early in the second half, his first goal of the season, to make it 2-0. Jonathan Wilson assisted on Borges” goal.
Middletown keeper Trevor Smith made a handful of strong saves to keep St. Helena off the scoreboard, according to Chairez.
“He played a really good game,” Chairez said.
Lower Lake 2, Clear Lake 1
At Lakeport, David Fernandez scored once in each half and the Lower Lake Trojans turned back a determined effort by the Clear Lake Cardinals to win in NCL I action.
Clear Lake closed to 2-1 with 10 minutes remaining and just missed tying the score late in the game, according to co-coach Shaun Hornby.
“The second half is the best I”ve seen the Clear Lake boys play in the last five years,” Hornby said. “Tony and I are both very proud of them.”
Hornby and Tony Paskaly both coach the Cardinals (0-10, 0-12).
“They played really hard and are totally improved from the first time we played them,” Lower Lake coach Dan Griffin said. “They scored a nice goal to cut it to 2-1 and really put some pressure on us in that second half. Our defense just held tough.”
Mauricio Jaurequi and Ramon Mayorga assisted on the Fernandez goals as Lower Lake improved to 2-6-2 in league play.
Fort Bragg 4, Kelseyville 1
At Fort Bragg, the Fort Bragg Timberwolves scored three goals in the second half to hand the Kelseyville Knights their first league loss.
The game was tied 1-1 at the half.
“The second half was no good ? horrible,” Kelseyville coach Eduardo Ledesma said. “Their first two goals scored on our mistakes. We just broke down.”
Enrique Cacho scored in the first half for Kelseyivlle (6-1-3, 9-2-3) with an assist from Adrian Perez.
