ST. HELENA >> Clear Lake broke out of its passing funk midway through the second set and went on to beat St. Helena 25-18, 25-17, 25-7 in North Central League I varsity volleyball action on Thursday evening in St. Helena.
“It took us a while to get going, the first two games were a little shaky,” Clear Lake coach Marci Psalmonds said. “It was 18-18 in the first set. By the middle of the second game we started playing.”
Clear Lake, now 7-1 in league action, received 10 kills, 12 digs and three aces from Kiana Richardson, nine kills from Camille Donald, eight kills and four blocks from Valerie Hutton, and four kills, three blocks and five aces from Corin Alakszay. Setter Kylie Udy finished with 33 assists.
The Cardinals return home Tuesday to play Lower Lake (0-8).
Clear Lake’s junior varsity squad also improved to 7-1 in the league standings with a 25-14, 25-16 victory.
In other volleyball action Thursday:
Kelseyville def. Lower Lake
At Lower Lake, the Kelseyville Knights improved to 8-0 in the NCL I standings with a 25-9, 25-7, 25-19 victory over the Lower Lake Trojans (0-8).
“It wasn’t so much they overpowered us as it was we came out really slow,” Lower Lake coach Jen Emberson said. “The third set was more of the team we are.”
Lily Griffin’s six kills and six digs led the Trojans. Patti McCleery added seven digs.
Kelseyville statistics were not reported.
Lower Lake won the JV match, beating Kelseyville 25-18, 23-25, 15-4 behind six aces, five kills and four digs from Kayla Doud, who opened the third set by serving 12 straight points.
“We did not play aggressive enough, we played too nice, which doesn’t get you wins,” Kelseyville coach Deanna Goff said as the Knights fell to 5-3 in league play. “We kind of did it to ourselves.”
Hayllie Beverlin and Megan Holland each had six kills for Kelseyville while Kaley O’Boyle added two kills, two aces and six assists, and Alexa Vargas had three kills, two aces and three assists.
Fort Bragg def. Middletown
At Middletown, the surging Fort Bragg Timberwolves improved to 6-2 in the league standings by sweeping Middletown 25-18, 25-10, 25-13, ending the Mustangs’ two-match winning streak.
“Fort Bragg has a great front right attack and we couldn’t defend against it,” Middletown coach Vanessa Davis said. “And that’s all we practiced against. Fort Bragg’s a good team, a solid team and we could not block them.”
Isabella DuBois’ six kills led the Mustangs (3-5).
“We’re not a team unit on defense and that’s what it takes to win,” Davis said.
Middletown’s JVs fared better, beating Fort Bragg 25-27, 25-21, 15-7. Standouts for the Mustangs, according to coach Nikeedra Davis, were setter Haylee Sust and outside hitter Faith Anderson.
“She (Sust) does a great job,” Davis said. “I can easily rely on her to get the sets up there.”
Anderson’s contributions came at the net, according to Davis. “She had some great hits.”
Middletown is now 4-4 in league play.
Upper Lake def. Tech
At Rohnert Park, even without their top player, Christina Wilson, in the lineup, the Upper Lake Cougars improved to 9-2 in the NCL II standings with a straight-set 25-11, 25-16, 25-18 victory over Technology.
“The girls played pretty well,” said Upper Lake coach Raelene Cromwell, who called up JV players Colleen Doyle and Alana Sanchez because there was no JV match (Tech doesn’t field a team).
Doyle racked up 11 service points with two aces while Sanchez had one kill on five arm swings.
“They both did a pretty nice job,” Cromwell said. “She (Alana) worked pretty hard on the net.”
Neveah Solorio’s four kills, 14 points and four aces powered Upper Lake. Seneca Snow added nine points, five aces and three kills.
