KELSEYVILLE >> Coming off a big road win over Clear Lake on Tuesday, you could excuse the Kelseyville Knights for not being at the top of their game on Thursday against the Lower Lake Trojans at Kelseyville High School.
They weren’t, but it still didn’t matter.
Kelseyville defeated Lower Lake 25-19, 25-19, 25-10 to open the second half of its North Central League I varsity volleyball schedule, running its NCL I-best record to 8-0 in the process. Of the 25 league sets played by the Knights so far, they’ve won 24.
Lower Lake (2-6) gave Kelseyville all it could want in the first two sets and even led 8-1 to start the match.
“We played a whole lot better tonight than at the beginning of the season,” Lower Lake coach Darcie Schmidt said of a league-opening loss to Kelseyville last month in Lower Lake.
Carli Mendonca’s 10 kills led the Knights and Grace Davidson added six kills on only eight arm swings. Payton Conrad’s four aces and excellent passing night was another plus for the Knights, according to head coach Donelle McCallister, as were Riley Goff’s 33 assists.
Lower Lake setter Bailey DeLong led the Trojans, according to Schmidt.
“She played her butt off,” Schmidt said.
Shayna Pike had four kills for the Trojans and Jolean Scarborough had three.
Kelseyville’s junior varsity club also improved to 8-0 in league play, beating Lower Lake 25-13, 25-19 behind five kills from Grace Duty, four kills from Alexa Vargas, three kills and six aces from Kalee Ellis, 10 digs, five assists and two aces from Malia Brown, and 10 assists, two kills and two aces from Paige Bour.
In other volleyball action Thursday:
Clear Lake def. Middletown
At Middletown, Clear Lake bounced back from its loss to Kelseyville on Tuesday with a 25-16, 25-15, 25-23 victory over the Middletown Mustangs.
Kiana Richardson’s 19 kills propelled the Cardinals (7-1) and setter Kylie Udy had 36 assists.
“Kiana had a great night,” Clear Lake coach Marci Psalmonds said. “Kylie set one of the best games I’ve seen her set this season.”
The Cardinals also received nine kills from Camille Donald and six more from Corin Alakszay.
Olivia Glosser’s nine kills and two aces led the Mustangs while Brittney Holt added seven kills and nine assists.
“I thought we actually played pretty well,” Middletown coach Jennifer Breiner said. “The score didn’t reflect how well we played. It was back and forth.”
Middletown won the JV match 25-21, 20-25, 15-6.
Upper Lake def. RCP
At Upper Lake, even without setter Natalie Karlsson, the Upper Lake Cougars took care of business against Roseland Collegiate Prep, winning 25-19, 25-18, 25-14 in NCL II action.
Kayla Nevarez filled in for Karlsson (excused absence) and played quite well in her place, according to Upper Lake coach Raelene Cromwell.
“We made it work with a different setter,” Cromwell said. “She did a nice job filling in.”
Christina Wilson’s seven kills, five assists, four aces and three digs led the Cougars (6-2) while Kejhana Taylor added seven kills, seven digs and 14 service points. Dakota Fugate also had six kills and libero Briana Binns helped out with 10 digs.
“Those digs were big for us and helped us a lot,” Cromwell said of Binns’ play.
Upper Lake won the JV match 25-16, 25-14 behind eight service points in the first set from Seneca Snow, 10 service points in the second set from Alana Sanchez, and four kills – all in a row – from Colene Doyle.
Boys’ soccer
M’town 4, Clear Lake 2
At Lakeport, sophomore Einar Monroy scored twice and Evan Dodd and Victor Lopez also had goals for the Middletown Mustangs in their NCL I win over the Clear Lake Cardinals.
“He probably had his best game all season,” Middletown coach Luis Chairez said of Monroy. “All in all we played pretty well.”
The game was deadlocked 2-2 after one half.
Luis Muniz and Kevin Chavez scored for the Cardinals, now 0-7-1 in league play. Middletown improved to 2-5-1 in the NCL I standings.
Girls’ soccer
K’ville 6, Lower Lake 1
At Lower Lake, Kat Brown and Christina Covarrubias scored twice apiece as the Kelseyville Knights beat the Trojans to square their league record at 3-3-2.
Paloma Ortiz added a goal and two assists in the win. Ruby Mulgrew also scored for the Knights, who led 3-1 after the first half.
Kelseyville is 6-4-3 overall.
