KELSEYVILLE >> The Kelseyville Knights wrapped up their North Central League I volleyball schedule on Wednesday evening with a 25-15, 25-9, 25-11 victory over the St. Helena Saints, putting them back into a flat-footed tie with the Clear Lake Cardinals atop the league standings.
Kelseyville (12-1) will not make up a league match with Cloverdale that was scheduled for Oct. 19 but postponed because of the North Coast fires that began on Oct. 8. Cloverdale suspended all athletic activity through Oct. 21 and the Eagles and Knights couldn’t come up with a date to replay the match, so it officially goes down as a no-contest.
Clear Lake (12-1) closes out its league schedule Thursday at home against those same Eagles. If the Cardinals win, Clear Lake and Kelseyville will share the 2017 league championship and meet in a special one-game playoff on Saturday in Kelseyville at 5 p.m. to determine which co-champion gets the league’s automatic playoff berth for next week’s North Coast Section playoffs. The outcome has no bearing on the league race and the loser of the special playoff match can still apply for an at-large berth into the sectional postseason tournament.
If Clear Lake loses to Cloverdale, Kelseyville is the outright league champion for the third year in a row and no special playoff match will be held Saturday.
“Whatever happens, happens,” said Kelseyville coach Donelle McCallister, who expects to be playing on Saturday.
The Knights showed no ill effects coming off their dramatic five-set loss to Clear Lake on Tuesday night in Lakeport. The bounce-back victory featured 10 kills from Allison Bryant, six kills from Grace Davidson, four kills from Shalyn Keithly, 16 assists and seven aces from Tymeka Green, and 18 digs from Payton Conrad.
Looking back on Friday’s match with Clear Lake, McCallister said she was proud of her players from digging out of a two-set hole to force a fifth set.
“Clear Lake is a solid team and I think we’re a good team too,” McCallister said.
A third meeting this season should only sharpen both teams as they prepare for next week’s playoffs (Kelseyville competes in Division IV and Clear Lake in Division V), according to McCallister.
In the junior varsity match, Kelseyville closed out league play at 9-4 with a 25-14, 23-25, 15-9 victory over the Saints. Megan Holland led the way with 10 kills, Hayllie Beverlin added nine kills, Jenna Williams finished with eight digs, Kaley O’Boyle had six assists, and Alexa Vargas added two kills and nine assists.
In other volleyball action Wednesday:
St. Vincent def Upper Lake
At Upper Lake, in a showdown between the top two teams in the NCL II, the Upper Lake Cougars won the first set only to watch St. Vincent rally for a 20-25, 25-14, 25-19, 25-19 victory.
“We had a good start and couldn’t finish it off,” Upper Lake coach Raelene Cromwell said.
Upper Lake honored its seven seniors on the final home match of the regular season.
“We’ll be starting with a whole new team pretty much next year,” Cromwell said.
Christina Wilson, one of those seniors, led the way with 15 kills and 10 digs. Kaila Willard added 10 kills and nine digs, Brenna Sanchez had eight kills, Alicia Pena finished with six kills, and Neveah Solorio added four kills and 15 assists.
“Our serving was bad the last three sets,” Cromwell said. “We couldn’t serve to save our lives.”
The Cougars close out league play Thursday night in Santa Rosa against Rincon Valley Christian.
Upper Lake did win the JV match 26-24, 25-20 behind 10 kills from Maria Wade, 12 service points from Madison Hicks-Brackett, five blocks from Leylah Medina, and 15 digs from Christina Roberts.
It was the first league loss for St. Vincent.
“I’m very proud of my girls and how far they’ve come,” Upper Lake coach Dani Paige Gudmundson Pena said.
Upper Lake closes out league play at 4-3.
Cloverdale def. Middletown
At Cloverdale, after playing the hard-hitting Kelseyville Knights and Clear Lake Cardinals in their last two matches, it was the tip that hurt the Middletown Mustangs most in a league loss to the Cloverdale Eagles.
“It was smart on their part,” Middletown coach Vanessa Davis said of the Eagles’ success in simply tapping the ball over the net and finding the holes in the Mustang defense.
Middletown (4-8) also struggled with serve receive at times against Cloverdale (5-4).
Abi Hibner’s six kills on 11 arm swings and only one error led the Mustangs at the net.
“That was a big step up for her,” Davis said of her 6-foot-3 junior middle hitter.
Amy Herrmann added six kills and two aces while Abbey Brown finished with four kills and four aces in Middletown’s final road match of the season.
Cloverdale also won the JV match, 25-18, 19-25, 15-8. Standouts for Middletown were Madison Lamar and Haylee Sust, according to coach Nikeedra Davis.
Middletown’s teams close out the season Thursday night at home against Lower Lake.
