UKIAH >> The Clear Lake Cardinals took a step up in competition on Tuesday evening when they traveled to Ukiah High School to take on the Wildcats of the North Bay League in a non-league varsity volleyball match that was pretty much all Clear Lake, 25-20, 25-13, 23-25, 25-11.
“They’re decent,” Clear Lake coach Marci Psalmonds said of the Wildcats. “They missed a lot of serves and it just killed them. We capitalized on that with some kills.”
Make that a lot of kills. Kiana Richardson led the way with 17, part of a big night for the senior outside hitter that also included 15 service points, three aces and eight digs.
“She had a good match,” Psalmonds said.
The rest of Clear Lake’s front line came through as well. Camille Donald pounded the Wildcats for 11 kills and Valerie Hutton, playing her first full match because of an earlier shoulder injury, added four kills and two blocks.
Setter Kylie Udy’s ball distribution fed Clear Lake’s attack.
“She did really well on setting the ball to the girls,” Psalmonds said of Udy’s 37 assists.
The Wildcats also tried picking on Udy’s defense but she responded with 10 digs.
“They would hit it at her and she would get the ball up,” Psalmonds said.
Clear Lake, now 2-0 on the season, takes the weekend off because of the Lake County Fair but will return to action Tuesday when it travels to Boonville to play Anderson Valley.
A scheduled junior varsity match between Clear Lake and Ukiah turned into a scrimmage instead.
In other volleyball action Tuesday:
Upper Lake def. RCP
At Santa Rosa, the Upper Lake Cougars opened their North Central League II schedule with a straight-set 25-21, 25-13, 25-17 victory over Roseland Collegiate Prep.
And talk about a fast start. Neveah Solorio opened the match on the service line for the Cougars (1-0 league, 2-2 overall) and didn’t leave it until Upper Lake had a 13-0 lead. She had four aces among her 13 consecutive service points and finished the night with a team-best nine aces.
Angelica Ayala also came up big for Upper Lake in the serving department with 16 points and five aces.
“We had some great serving tonight,” Upper Lake coach Raelene Cromwell said. “The girls … they played good in spurts but we also had some inconsistent play. We have a lot of young players and sometimes they get a little nervous.”
Two of the team’s veterans, Christina Wilson and Breanna Sanchez, finished with six and four kills, respectively. Sanchez also had three blocks. Solorio led the team with 12 assists and also had two kills.
There was no JV match because Roseland Collegiate does not field a JV team.
Both of Upper Lake’s squads are back in action Friday when the Cougars host Credo School in a league match.
El Molino def. M’town
At Middletown, El Molino swept Middletown 25-14, 25-18, 25-20 in non-league action despite seven kills and six blocks from Abby Hibner.
“It was a battle for us,” Middletown coach Vanessa Davis said. “We definitely rely on other teams to make mistakes and they didn’t make many. We had to earn every point.”
Abbey Brown contributed six kills and one block to the Middletown cause while Emily Santiago added three kills, two digs and one ace.
Middletown’s passing needs work, according to Davis.
“Whenever we did get a set up we did pretty well,” Davis said. “We’re still working things out. That’s what the preseason is for.”
Davis said she was impressed with Hibner’s play.
“She’s pretty dominant and I like to see that,” Davis said.
Middletown is 1-2 on the season.
El Molino also won the JV match, 25-17, 25-21.
“Hayley Sust had some really good sets and did a good all-around job,” Middletown coach Nikeedra Davis said. “Mylie Turney had some good hits.”
Sust and Turney also happen to be Middletown’s captains.
Both Middletown teams are back in action Thursday at home against Healdsburg.
