WATSONVILLE >> There was no upset in Watsonville on Wednesday night as the Keleyville Knights fell 25-15, 25-18, 25-21 to Monte Vista Christian in the opening round of the Northern California Division IV volleyball playoffs.
There also were no regrets about Kelseyville’s 25-7 season in 2016. None whatsoever, according to Kelseyville coach Donelle McCallister.
“I feel like we’ve done all we can do and we’re done now,” McCallister said.
It was the second meeting this season between the two teams, the first taking place during a tournament Oct. 15 in Napa where the Mustangs won 25-18, 25-16, 25-14.
“We went 18, 16, 14 the first time we played and 15, 18, 21 tonight,” McCallister said. “We played well. It was a good match.”
Carli Mendonca led the Knights with six kills, Maddie West added four more, Payton Conrad had 15 digs and Riley Goff finished with 19 assists.
While the Knights were able to dig up some powerful hits by Monte Vista Christian outside hitter Sjea Anderson, they couldn’t keep it up forever, according to McCallister.
“She dominated,” McCallister said of Anderson. “We got digs on her but she would just hit it even harder the next time.”
Freshman middle hitter Allie Tillery was another force for the Mustangs.
“She was getting kills from the 10-foot line,” McCallister said.
Kelseyville’s back row of Conrad, Lauren Rudnick and Tymeka Green played especially well in defeat, according to McCAllister.
“The back row did an outstanding job all match,” she said. “Our passing was fantastic.”
Kelseyville claimed its second consecutive North Central League I championship this season and its third in four years. The Knights won a first-round North Coast Section playoff match against Fortuna before losing to St. Joseph Notre Dame of Alameda in the quarterfinals. Eight days after they thought their season was over, the Knights secured an at-large berth in the NorCal playoffs against Monte Vista Christian, the No. 2 seed in the 16-team field and the Central Coast Section champion. The Mustangs move on to play Lick-Wilmerding of San Francisco in the NorCal quarterfinals on Saturday.
While Kelseyville loses five players to graduation — Goff, Rudnick, Mendonca, West and Kaylie Williams — some key players return, including Conrad, Green, Shalyn Keithly, Grace Davidson and Allison Bryant, who is just a freshman. The Knights also will get an infusion of talent from a junior varsity squad that went undefeated in league play — just like the varsity.
“It’s not going to be easy next year,” McCallister said. “It’s going to be a rebuilding year. We’re losing a lot of our height and are going to have to play more defensive.”
Apart from showering praise on her players, McCallister also had nothing but kind words for Monte Vista Christian staff.
“They’re treating us like queens down here,” McCallister said. “They have their own chef and we had dinner at his restaurant. They gave us a tour of the school. They have an equestrian center and their classes have couches in them. They’ve been so nice to us. It’s a beautiful school.”
In fact, Monte Vista Christian has invited Kelseyville to attend a Thursday morning breakfast before the Knights return home.
They accepted, of course.
