KELSEYVILLE — With two weeks remaining in their regular season, the Kelseyville Knights are four wins away from another perfect North Central League I campaign.
Kelseyville beat up on the Willits Wolverines during a Thursday night match in Kelseyville, winning 25-15, 25-21, 25-7, their 10th win in as many matches this season. If the Knights run the table and finish 14-0, it will mark the third time they’ve done that in four seasons. The three-time defending league champions also went undefeated in 2015 and 2016.
Kelseyville head coach Donelle McCallister isn’t one to look ahead on the Knights’ schedule even if others do. She did say she was impressed with the play of the Wolverines, who fought hard in each of the first two sets.
“Their hitting was really strong,” McCallister said. “It was fun playing them.”
Allison Bryant’s 15 kills and four aces led the Knights, who can clinch their fourth straight league title with a victory Tuesday night in Middletown. Foreign exchange student Paula Iglesias had a kill for Kelseyville and right-side hitter Kalee Ellis turned in a strong performance, according to McCallister.
In junior varsity action, Kelseyville beat Willits 25-13, 25-8 to improve to 9-1 in the NCL I standings. The Knights share the league lead with Middletown and those two teams meet Tuesday in Middletown.
In other volleyball action Thursday:
Clear Lake def. Fort Bragg
At Lakeport, playing one of their best matches of the season, the Clear Lake Cardinals avenged a five-set loss earlier this season at Fort Bragg by beating the Timberwolves 25-14, 25-21, 25-21 in NCL I action.
Both teams are now 6-4 in the league standings.
“We needed it,” Clear Lake coach Marci Psalmonds said of the straight-set victory. “I’ve had enough of five sets.”
Clear Lake has gone the maximum five sets four times in league play this season, going 2-2 in those matches.
The Cardinals had a big serving night against the Timberwolves and finished with 16 aces. Kylie Udy led the team with five, Shaelyn McIntire and Lilli Hill each had four, and Madi Ferguson added three.
“She brings the chemistry to the team, she’s a real talker,” Psalmonds said of Hill, who recorded six kills and two blocks in the win. “She’s the glue of the team.”
McIntire pounded out 12 kills to lead the Cardinals and Udy added six more. Madi Ferguson had 22 digs.
“We were covering the whole court,” Psalmonds said of the Cardinals’ defense. “Everybody did their job. It was nice to see.”
Fort Bragg won the JV match 25-16, 25-16 despite four kills from Clear Lake’s Zoey Pepper and seven digs, seven service points and one kill from teammate Raina Clifton.
Clear Lake is 6-4 in league play.
Middletown def. Cloverdale
At Middletown, the Middletown Mustangs shared the wealth on the front row, using a big hitting night to turn back the Cloverdale Eagles 25-15, 25-15, 24-26, 25-18.
Middletown’s win combined with Clear Lake’s victory at home against Fort Bragg leaves the Mustangs (7-3) all alone in second place in the NCL I standings.
Four Middletown players finished with double-digit kill totals. Taylor Griffin and Abi Hibner led the way with 14 apiece, Bella Dubois added 11 more and Abbey Brown had 10. Hibner also had 10 blocks.
“She was on fire all night long,” Middletown head coach Vanessa Davis said of Hibner. “It’s nice to see her healthy again.”
Davis also praised the play of libero Taelor Roderick and setter Yasamine Heidary.
“They both did a great job,” she said.
Middletown hosts undefeated league leader Kelseyville (10-0) on Tuesday. If the Knights win, they’ll clinch their fourth straight NCL I championship.
Middletown’s JV squad improved to 9-1 in the league standings with a 25-19, 25-19 victory over Cloverdale.
Standouts for the Mustangs were Allison Brown, Lara Patterson and Melissa Conley, according to head coach Nikeedra Davis.
Brown finished with two kills.
“She was really able to move around the floor,” Davis said of Brown.
Patterson’s first serve as a high school player was an ace and she played well in the back row, according to Davis. Conley had three kills and served eight straight points in the first set.
“She played awesome in the back row,” Davis said.
Middletown and Kelseyville are both 9-1 in league play and they’ll square off Tuesday night in Middletown.
St. Helena def. Lower Lake
At Lower Lake, the Trojans just missed their first league win of the season. Ahead 16-15 and with the serve in the fifth and deciding set, Lower Lake watched the St. Helena Saints win the final three points to pull out a marathon 20-25, 25-15, 20-25, 25-20, 18-16 victory.
“They had to work for every single point,” Lower Lake head coach Niki Emberson said. “They had to persevere through a lot of long rallies.”
Among the Lower Lake standouts were Shelby Sapeta with 14 kills, 24 digs and three aces, Lily Griffin with 11 kills, 26 digs and six aces, Tess Biasotti with a season-high 27 assists, and Kayla Doud with eight kills and two aces.
“It was definitely a battle,” Emberson said. “The girls played amazing and I’m so proud of them.”
St. Helena beat Lower Lake in straight sets on Sept. 11 in St. Helena.
“It was phenomenal,” Emberson said of the team’s best effort of the season. “We came out with so much energy and were positive.”
