UPPER LAKE >> Kejhana Taylor’s 11 kills combined with 27 assists and 21 service points from setter Natalie Karlsson helped carry the Upper Lake Cougars to a 25-17, 29-27, 27-25 victory over Rincon Valley Christian in North Central League II volleyball action on Thursday in Santa Rosa.
The win gives Upper Lake (11-3) sole possession of second place in the final league standings and they’ll advance to the North Coast Section Division V playoffs next week as an at-large team. The Cougars also avenged a four-set loss to the Eagles (10-4) earlier this season at Upper Lake.
Isabel Rorabaugh had seven kills for the Cougars while Christina Wilson and Brenna Sanchez each had five.
“They hung in there,” Upper Lake coach Raelene Cromwell said. “They stayed focused and kept battling. We trailed by eight points in the second set.”
In other volleyball action Thursday:
M’town def. Cloverdale
At Middletown, Jennifer Breiner completed her 10th and final season as Middletown’s head coach with a marathon 21-25, 25-11, 25-18, 22-25, 15-8 victory over the Cloverdale Eagles. Breiner, who took over the Mustangs’ varsity program in 2007, is retiring after 21 seasons of coaching high school and club ball inMiddletown, Calistoga and Chico.
“They really played great,” Breiner said of her players and especially seniors Olivia Glosser (12 kills, three aces) and Brittney Holt (seven kills, seven aces).
Amy Hermann also came up big with a team-best 13 kills and 25 digs.
“She was on fire,” Breiner said.
Middletown’s veteran coach said she thoroughly enjoyed the decade she spent coaching the Mustangs.
“Middletown is a wonderful school to coach for. The kids here have always been great and fun to coach,” she said.
Breiner’s best season was in 2012 when the Mustangs went 12-2 in league and tied St. Helena for the league championship. That squad finished 24-7 overall.
Girls soccer
Upper Lake 2, Calistoga 2 (tie)
At Upper Lake, Rebecca Garner scored two goals, the final one with two minutes left to play, as the Upper Lake Cougars finished their season by tying the Calistoga Wildcats.
“It was a good game, the best game my girls have played all year long,” Upper Lake coach Mandy Robbins said. “It was wet and sloppy. It was just fun to watch.”
Jazlyn Bonilla stopped 17 shots for Upper Lake. The Cougars finish 2-10-2 in league and 3-14-2 overall.
Boys soccer
Lower Lake 5, Willits 0
At Lower Lake, Carlos Martinez scored twice and Nestor Arroyo, Jose Martinez and Gerardo Rodriguez added single goals as the Lower Lake Trojans shut out a Willits team that had two players ejected because of red cards.
Field conditions were “wet and slippery,” according to Lower Lake coach Javier Michel.
Lower Lake finishes league play with a 6-2-6 record.
Michel said the Trojans should qualify for an at-large berth in next week’s sectional playoffs. The complete postseason pairings will be released Sunday afternoon.
M’town 2, Cloverdale 1
At Cloverdale, it wasn’t a great season for the Middletown Mustangs in terms of wins and losses, but it had a great ending as Middletown beat Cloverdale in the season finale for both teams.
Raul Garibo scored in the first half for Middletown (4-8-2) and Victor Lopez made it 2-0 in the second half after converting a free kick.
“It was a real nice shot,” Middletown coach Luis Chairez said.
Cloverdale closed to 2-1 with minutes remaining but Middletown’s defense was able to hold off the Eagles the rest of the way despite sloppy field conditions.
“The field didn’t help us,” Chairez said. “There were huge puddles everywhere.”
Standouts for the Mustangs included Lopez, Saul Padilla, Ricardo Chaires and Kai Lew, according to Chairez.
Hayden Sust picked up an assist on Garibo’s goal.
