LOWER LAKE >> There’s no stopping Allison Bryant, the standout middle hitter for the Kelseyville Knights. Just ask Lower Lake head coach Niki Emberson.
“She’s amazing,” Emberson said of Bryant as the visiting Knights beat the Trojans 25-13, 25-18, 25-17 in the North Central League I opener for both varsity volleyball teams on Thursday night in Lower Lake.
“She hits the ball almost straight down,” Emberson said of the sophomore Bryant. “You can’t even blink your eyes that fast. She annihilated our back row.”
Kelseyville (1-0) is the three-time defending league champion and the Knights are the heavy favorites to make it four straight titles this season.
“She did a really nice job,” Kelseyville coach Donelle McCallister said of Bryant, who recorded all 10 of her team-high kill total in the first two sets.
“I pulled her from the front row in the third set,” McCallister said. “She only set from the back row.”
Other Kelseyville leaders were Grace Davidson with eight aces, Paige Bour with 14 assists and Payton Conrad with 13 digs.
“We’ve got some work to do,” McCallister said when asked to rate the Knights’ league-opening performance.
Lower Lake (0-1) was led by Lily Griffin with 13 digs, five aces and four kills, Shelby Sapeta with 15 digs and three aces, and Kayla Doud and Marnae Johnson with three kills apiece.
Kelseyville also won the junior varsity match 25-15, 24-26, 15-5.
The Trojans visit Clear Lake (1-0) on Thursday while Kelseyville hosts Fort Bragg (1-0).
In other volleyball action Tuesday:
Clear Lake def. St. Helena
At St. Helena, the Clear Lake Cardinals are a team that won’t give up and it’s a quality that served them well against the St. Helena Saints in the NCL I opener for both teams.
Trailing two sets to none in the best-of-five match, the Cardinals (1-0) came roaring back to win 18-25, 25-27, 25-17, 25-14, 15-9.
“We showed a lot of grit,” Clear Lake coach Marci Psalmonds said. “They just kept fighting.”
The Cardinals had no shortage of contributors in their come-from-behind win. Shaelyn McIntire led the way with 12 kills, 14 digs and six aces, and Emma Boatwright collected 13 kills and three blocks. Also for Clear Lake, Kylie Udy finished with 37 assists and 18 digs while Madi Ferguson sparked the defense with 33 digs.
“She held down the defense and played great,” Psalmonds said of Ferguson, a holdover from last year’s veteran squad that tied Kelseyville for the league championshp.
After Clear Lake extended the match by winning the third set, the Cardinals took advantage of several St. Helena breakdowns.
“They kind of fell apart and we capitalized on it,” Psalmonds said. “This team does not give up.”
Clear Lake won the JV match 25-20, 22-25, 15-9 behind five kills from Raina Cliston and a nice run at the service line in the first set from Hailee Bussard, who served seven points in a row with three aces.
“Everybody did their job,” Clear Lake coach Morgan Psalmonds said. “We spread around the kills.”
“I’m very proud of how they played,” Psalmonds added of the Cardinals.
RUP def. Upper Lake
At Santa Rosa, Roseland University Prep beat Upper Lake 25-11, 25-12, 25-20 despite a couple of solid performances by the Cougars’ Seneca Snow, who had 15 digs, and by Madison Brackett, who finished with 10 service points and only one error in 20 serves overall.
“We started off a little slow, but we finished strong and never game up,” said Upper Lake’s Dani Paige Gudmundson Pena, who will fill in as varsity and JV head coach the remainder of the season as varsity coach Raelene Cromwell recovers from a back injury.
Upper Lake is 1-4 in league play.
Roseland University Prep also beat Upper Lake’s JV squad 25-21, 25-11 despite a strong effort by Neveah Solario, who had eight digs.
Upper Lake plays a non-league match Wednesday at Anderson Valley.
Fort Bragg def. Middletown
At Middletown, the host Mustangs couldn’t sweep Fort Bragg in three sets and ended up losing a marathon five-setter to the Timberwolves, who rallied for a 19-25, 25-22, 20-25, 25-18, 16-14 victory.
“We should have won in three,” Middletown coach Vanessa Davis said. “My girls are heartbroken.”
Davis credited a spirited defensive effort by the Timberwolves.
“Fort Bragg dug up everything, they have a pretty solid defense,” she said. “We pounded the ball right at them and they dug it up.”
Abbey Brown led the Mustangs with 17 kills, six blocks and two aces while teammate Taylor Griffin contributed nine kills, six blocks and nine digs. Abi Hibner added eight kills and two blocks.
Middletown swept Fort Bragg in the JV match, winning 26-24, 25-15 behind the play of libero Maggie Rodgers, setter Syrah Moore, and middle hitter Maddie Lamar.
Rodgers reeled off seven straight points at the service line in set two to give the Mustangs a big lead and Moore closed out the set with four straight service points.
“She had some awesome digs and showed great spirit for us,” Middletown coach Nikeedra Davis said of Rodgers.
Moore’s setting was another big plus.
“She did an awesome job,” Davis said.
Lamar finished with a pair of blocks.
