CLOVERDALE >> After a shaky start, Clear Lake swept the Cloverdale Eagles 27-25, 25-14, 25-19 in North Central League I varsity volleyball play on Tuesday night in Cloverdale, keeping the Cardinals tied with Kelseyville atop the league standings at 3-0.
Corin Alakszay turned in a strong effort for the Cardinals with seven kills and three aces. Kiana Richardson led the team with nine kills and she also had six digs, two blocks and two aces. Other major contributors were Camille Donald with six kills and six digs and Madi Ferguson with four aces and seven digs.
Cloverdale won the junior varsity match 22-25, 25-8, 15-11 despite three kills and seven digs from Clear Lake’s Shalyn McIntire.
In other volleyball action Tuesday:
St. Vincent def. Upper Lake
At Petaluma, the St. Vincent Mustangs swept the Upper Lake Cougars in NCL II action, only Upper Lake’s second loss of the season and its first in league.
Kejhana Taylor and Isabel Rorabaugh led the Cougars with four kills apiece while Briana Binns had a team-best 10 digs. Brenna Sanchez added three kills, three blocks, four digs and one ace.
Upper Lake is 2-1 in league and 7-2 overall.
Willits def. Middletown
At Willits, the Willits Wolverines are winless in league play no more. They upset Middletown 19-25, 25-17, 25-21, 25-16 to improve to 1-2, the same record as the Mustangs.
“Willits wanted it more,” Middletown coach Jennifer Breiner said. “We did not play hard.”
Taylor Griffin’s five kills and Abbey Brown’s three kills and four blocks led the Mustangs.
Fort Bragg def. Lower Lake
At Fort Bragg, the Lower Lake Trojans traveled a long way and didn’t put up much of a fight in losing 25-8, 25-8, 27-25 to the Fort Bragg Timberwolves in NCL I action.
Fort Bragg improved to 2-1 in the league standings while Lower Lake slipped to 0-3.
“We had a lot of errors and beat ourselves,” Lower Lake coach Darcie Schmidt said.
Boys’ soccer
Cloverdale 5, Clear Lake 0
At Lakeport, generating almost no offense in the first half, the Clear Lake Cardinals put more pressure on the Cloverdale defense in the second half but still couldn’t find the net in a NCL I loss to the Eagles, who led 2-0 at the half.
“We couldn’t buy a goal,” Clear Lake coach Tony Paskaly said..
Clear Lake’s problem is one a lot of young teams like the Cardinals experience, according to Paskaly.
“We still have people individually playing … they’re not playing as a team.”
Two standouts on defense, both freshmen, were Ian Sammel at left fullback and Santiago Perez at right fullback.
Lower Lake 2, Fort Bragg 0
At Lower Lake, Gerardo Rodriguez scored in the first half and Lupe Pelaez added an insurance goal in the second half as the Lower Lake Trojans improved to 2-0-1 in league play by shutting out the Fort Bragg Timberwolves. “My goalie is pretty good,” Lower Lake coach Javier Michel said of Jose Hernandez, who denied the Timberwolves at every turn. “He made some really nice stops.”
M’town 1, Willits 0
At Middletown, Victor Lopez scored in the 65th minute after a run up the left side of the field to give the Middletown Mustangs their first win in league play and their first win of the season at the expense of the Willits Wolverines.
“It was a beautiful goal,” Middletown coach Luis Chaires said of Lopez’s shot.
Middletown is 1-1-1 in league and 1-5-1 overall.
Tech 9, Upper Lake 0
At Rohnert Park, the Upper Lake Cougars were shut out by Technology in NCL II action, dropping the Cougars to 0-6 overall.
“They took it to us all game,” Upper Lake coach Kevin O’Brien said.
Girls’ soccer
M’town 3, Willits 0
At Middletown, Gracie Armstrong, Caitlin Lemoine and Madison Ketchum scored goals in Middletown’s shutout win over the Willits Wolverines.
Middletown improved to 2-0-1 in league action behind some rock-solid defensive play from sophomore Kelsey Lemoine, according to Middletown coach Lamont Kucer.
“Willits got behind us a couple of times and her speed and defense saved us,” Kucer said.
Clear Lake 7, Cloverdale 0
At Lakeport, the Clear Lake defense allowed no shots on goal while shutting out the Cloverdale Eagles.
Clear Lake, now 2-0-1 in league play, had 38 shots. Amelia Perry and Tanya Vasquez each had two goals while Carina Martinez, Regina Faalelea and Lexi Burke also scored.
“Our defense was really good,” Clear Lake coach Tommy Burke said. “I don’t think they ever got the ball more than three-quarters of the way down the field.”
Martinez scored 18 seconds into the game and the Cards never looked back.
St. Helena 4, K’ville 0
At St. Helena, with several players out sick or injured, the Kelseyville Knights dropped their second straight in league play, losing to the St. Helena Saints.
“We had some good play, but we are beat up and we are sick,” Kelseyville coach Eric Hoefler said. “Not being deep it really showed today.”
