kelseyville >> The Kelseyville Knights aren’t done quite yet. The undefeated North Central League I champions dispatched Healdsburg 25-20, 25-12, 13-25, 25-23 on Wednesday night in the opening round of the North Coast Section Division IV volleyball playoffs at Kelseyville High School.
Only hours after Kelseyville head coach Donelle McCallister attended funeral services for her father in Petaluma, the Knights improved to 23-7 on the season and earned the right to host Lick-Wilmerding of San Bruno in Saturday’s quarterfinals at 7 p.m. Lick-Wilmerding upset No. 5 seed Arcata in another first-round match on Wednesday.
“The playoffs are the icing on the cake for us,” McCallister said. “We did what we had to do in league and now we just go game by game and see where it leads us.”
The Knights benefited from another strong team effort, getting contributions from a handful of players. Heidy Cano and Carli Mendonca led the way with 15 kills apiece but it was Shalyn Keithly who won some of the biggest points for the Knights with her eight kills, according to McCallister.
“She had some corner kills for us that came at key times,” McCallister said. “She won some important points.”
Payton Conrad and Lauren Rudnick led the team with 27 and 26 kills, respectively, Tymeka Green had a team-best four aces, and setter Riley Goff set up her hitters with 32 assists.
“Healdsburg was a little bit asleep after the ride of the hill, but they sure woke up in the third and fourth sets,” McCallister said.
Kelseyville trailed at different points in the fourth set before rallying for the victory.
“We got a little tight after that third set, but they pulled it together,” McCallister said of her squad, which has only one senior (Cano). “They were having fun.”
Kelseyville was one of three Lake County teams participating in the opening round of the Division IV postseason tournament but the only winner as Clear Lake lost in four sets to McKinleyville and Middletown fell in three sets to St. Patrick/St. Vincent.
