LAKEPORT >> Taking an unexpected week off didn’t exactly slow down the Clear Lake Cardinals, who returned to the volleyball court with a 25-7, 25-7, 25-13 win over the Lower Lake Trojans in North Central League I action on Monday evening in Lakeport.
The match was originally scheduled for Oct. 10 but had to be rescheduled because of last week’s fires and smoky conditions that played havoc with fall sports activity throughout the North Coast. All NCL I matches last week were postponed.
Clear Lake (8-1) trails only Kelseyville (8-0) atop the league standings.
“It definitely was a team effort,” said Clear Lake coach Marci Psalmonds, who said the unexpected layoff allowed her team to work on a number of things before it enters the homestretch in league play. “It was a great week for us to get some things done. Of course, we would rather be playing matches.”
Clear Lake had no shortage of contributors in its win over Lower Lake (0-9).
“Both of our middles played well,” Psalmonds said of Valerie Hutton (five kills, five aces and three blocks) and Corin Alakszay (two kills, five aces and three blocks).
Kiana Richardson led the Cardinals with 12 kills and nine digs while Camille Donald finished with five kills, 11 service points and two aces. Kylie Udy recorded 22 assists.
“Everybody played and everybody did their job,” Psalmonds said.
Shelby Sapeta’s two kills, two aces and nine digs led the Trojans. Lily Griffin added three kills and four digs while Maria Santos also had four digs.
“They had their moments where they played really, really well,” Lower Lake coach Jen Emberson said. “But there were other times when we looked slow. Clear Lake is a good team and I think they surprised our girls with some of their (hard) hits.”
Emberson said Sapeta was able to dig out a few blasts by Clear Lake’s Richardson.
“She had some amazing digs,” Emberson said.
Clear Lake hosts Willits on Tuesday and travels to Middletown on Thursday. The Cardinals also have a home match with Fort Bragg, postponed from last week, rescheduled for next Monday.
In the junior varsity match, Lower Lake knocked off Clear Lake 25-18, 25-22, only the second league loss of the season for the Cardinals (7-2), who were led by Shaelyn McIntire’s five kills and 11 service points, and Joy Ingalls’ five digs.
