LAKEPORT >> In order to be a serious contender for a North Central League I championship in volleyball, the St. Helena Saints are one of those teams you need to beat.
That didn’t appear to be a problem for the Clear Lake Cardinals on Tuesday night in Lakeport. Behind 14 kills from Kiana Richardson and eight more from Camille Donald, coach Marci Psalmonds’ squad simply overpowered the Saints 25-12, 25-13, 25-16 in the league opener for both squads.
“We didn’t play our best volleyball, not like this past weekend, but they got the job done and that’s all that matters,” Psalmonds said. “We took awhile to get going in each game, but once we did we played pretty well.”
Valerie Hutton helped neutralize St. Helena’s big hitter up front with four blocks.
“They have one hitter and we have four good hitters,” Psalmonds said.
Hutton also had three kills as Clear Lake improved to 10-1 on the season.
The Cardinals’ defense did its part too, according to Psalmonds.
“They’re all kind of sharing the defense right now,” Psalmonds said of Donald’s six digs as well as five digs apiece from Richardson, Kylie Udy and Paige Woodruff. “We’re doing really well as a team.”
The Cardinals are on the road Thursday to play Lower Lake.
Clear Lake rallied from a set down to win the junior varsity match 22-25, 25-18, 15-13 behind five kills and eight assists from Shaelyn McIntire and 14 service points and six assists from Emily Keiser.
In other volleyball action Tuesday:
K’ville def. Lower Lake
At Kelseyville, the Kelseyville Knights might have some new faces in their starting lineup this year but there’s no arguing with the end result as they beat Lower Lake 25-17, 25-5, 25-14 in the league opener for both teams.
Allison Bryant pounded out 11 kills and Grace Davidson had nine to lead the Knights (1-0), the two-time defending league champions. Tymeka Green finished with 15 assists, Paige Bour had five aces, and Payton Conrad led the team with 17 digs.
“We have a good team,” Kelseyville coach Donelle McCallister said. “We have some stuff to work on but they looked like they were having some fun out there tonight.”
Shelby Sapeta led the Trojans (0-1) with 16 digs, Lily Griffin added three kills and nine digs, and Mikelynn Rowe had eight digs.
“They (Knights) were finding holes and they swing hard,” Lower Lake coach Jen Emberson said.
The Trojans had to shuffle their lineup after losing middle hitter Alisha Jones during tournament action on Saturday.
“We had to move some people around,” said Lower Lake’s first-year coach, who gave a thumbs up to her team’s play overall.
“The girls did really well, kept their heads up and fought for every point,” Emberson said.
Kelseyville visits Fort Bragg on Thursday while Lower Lake returns home to play Clear Lake.
Kelseyville also won the JV match 25-17, 25-15 with several players contributing to the victory. Hayllie Beverlin led the way with seven kills and five aces, Kaley O’Boyle added eight assists, Jenna Williams had seven assists, Alexa Vargas contributed nine digs and two kills, Megan Holland had two kills, one ace and one block, and Kasandra Villalobos finished with three kills.
Fort Bragg def. M’town
At Fort Bragg, the Fort Bragg Timberwolves swept the Middletown Mustangs 25-18, 25-21, 25-17 in the league opener for both teams.
“We made too many errors,” Middletown coach Vanessa Davis said. “We are an aggressive playing team making too many errors, but we’ll fix that.”
Abby Hibner’s seven kills and nine blocks powered Middletown (0-1) up front.
“She pretty much shut down their (Timberwolves’) front row,” Davis said.
Taylor Griffin added four kills and an ace and Amy Herrmann had a solid passing night for the Mustangs, who hit the road again Thursday to play Willits.
Middletown’s JVs lost a heartbreaker as Fort Bragg rallied for a 22-25, 25-23, 15-13 victory. Standouts for the Mustangs were Hailey Sust and Rylann Wright, according to coach Nikeedra Davis.
RUP def. Upper Lake
At Santa Rosa, after a poor effort in the first set, the Upper Lake Cougars battled back and at least made Roseland University Prep work for a 25-9, 25-23, 27-29, 25-19 victory in NCL II action.
“We had a lot of long rallies,” Upper Lake coach Raelene Cromwell said of the final three sets. “There was a lot of back and forth.”
Christina Wilson’s 12 kills and 40 digs paced the Cougars, now 3-2 in the league standings. Seneca Snow, recently promoted from the JV squad, added six kills, 10 service points and 20 digs while Brenna Sanchez led the Cougars with 14 kills. Libero Briana Binns added 15 points and 43 digs.
Roseland Prep’s libero played a major role in the Upper Lake loss, according to Cromwell.
“Their libero was unstoppable. She was a magnet to the ball.”
Upper Lake’s attacks at the net were mostly negated by the Roseland defense, according to Cromwell, who said the Cougars had better success dinking the ball to openings in their opponent’s defense.
Upper Lake won the JV match 25-14, 25-10. Colene Doyle and Alyssa Navarro were Upper Lake’s standout players, according to coach Dani Paige Gudmundson Pena.
