KELSEYVILLE — Winning their 30th match of the season, the Kelseyville Knights rolled past the Clear Lake Cardinals 25-8, 25-21, 25-14 on senior night Tuesday during North Central League I varsity volleyball action at Kelseyville High School.
The Knights (13-0) wrapped up the undisputed league championship last week and are now 30-5 on the season, which is the best record ever by a Donelle McCallister-coached team at the school. They close out their regular season Thursday night in St. Helena before moving on to the North Coast Section playoffs. Considering the offensive firepower the Knights possess as well as a solid defense, they have the means to make a deep run in the postseason.
Not one to look ahead on the Knights’ schedule, McCallister simply said, “If they play well, they’ll do well.”
Honored before the start of the Knights’ final league home match were seniors Payton Conrad, a four-year varsity veteran, Grace Davidson, a three-year veteran, and Kat Brown, a first-year varsity player.
“It’s very unusual to have a senior walk on to the team and take a starting spot,” McCallister said of Brown. “She’s very athletic and she added another dimension to our team.”
Davidson began her high school career at Clear Lake High School before transferring to Kelseyville.
“She was a huge addition to our team, a three-year starter with a lot of heart, positive all the time and a wonderful player.”
Conrad, a varsity starter since day one of her high school career, is among the best players to come through the Kelseyville program, according to McCallister.
“You have to have someone who can pass the ball, I don’t care how many hitters you have,” McCallister said. “Payton has passed the ball well since her freshman year and she’s the best libero I’ve seen in my 10-11 years of coaching. Payton’s also gives you great defense. She’s a wonderful athlete who comes from an athletic family.”
Kelseyville’s dominance in the league this year is reflected not only by its 13-0 record, but the 11 matches the Knights have won in straight sets. They’ve been extended to four sets only twice – once by Middletown and the other time by Fort Bragg. They’ve lost only one set at home (to Middletown).
Clear Lake (7-6) had a difficult time mounting much of an attack against its archrival.
“We didn’t get much offense going,” Clear Lake coach Marci Psalmonds said. “My three seniors played the best on my team.”
Libero Madi Ferguson finished with 16 kills while setter Kylie Udy had 12 digs, six assists and three kills. Lilli Hill added three kills and eight digs.
“I was proud of the way my seniors played tonight,” Psalmonds said.
Kelseyville’s junior varsity squad beat Clear Lake 25-21, 18-25, 15-13 to wrap up the undisputed league championship. The Knights are 12-1 in the NCL I standings while Clear Lake is 8-5.
The Cardinals certainly had their chances as they led 11-3 in the first set and 11-8 in the third and deciding set, but couldn’t stop the Knights from rallying to win both.
Kelseyville and Clear Lake wrap up their league and regular-season schedules on Thursday, both on the road. Kelseyville visits St. Helena and Clear Lake travels to Cloverdale.
In other volleyball action Tuesday:
St. Helena def. Middletown
At Middletown, the Middletown Mustangs celebrated senior night by winning the first two sets only to watch St. Helena rally for a 23-25, 24-26, 25-20, 25-23, 15-5 victory in NCL I action.
The win puts St. Helena (8-4) in sole possession of second place in the league standings and drops Middletown (8-5) into a tie for third place with Fort Bragg (8-5).
“We were just making errors,” Middletown head coach Vanessa davis said. “My setters (Alessandra Diaz and Yasamine Heidary) played great. Everyone else seemed a little flat.”
Diaz finished with 13 assists, 10 digs, two kills and one ace while Heidary had 14 assists, nine digs, one kill and one ace.
“She (Diaz) had energy everyone else needed,” Davis said. “She had momentum and was trying to spread it.”
Shea Rockwell returned from an ankle injury to post five kills and two aces. Abi Hibner led the team with 15 kills and three blocks.
Since it was the Mustangs’ final home match of the regular season, Davis honored her five seniors – Heidary, Rockwell, Hibner, Taylor Griffin and Taelor Roderick.
Middletown’s JVs won 25-17, 17-25, 15-8 behind the play of Emma Hansen and Sophie Smith.
“She was a force at the net where she was awesome,” Middletown coach Nikeedra Davis said of Smith, who led the team with five blocks. “Sophie had some great serves for us tonight.”
Middletown improved to 10-3 in league play.
Willits def. Lower Lake
At Lower Lake, the Trojans’ last best chance to win a league game ended up not being much of a match at all as the Willits Wolverines (2-10) swept Lower Lake 25-21, 25-18, 25-17.
Lower Lake (0-13) hosts Middletown on Thursday in the final match of the season for the Trojans, who will honor their seniors before the start of play.
“They were really flat all night,” Lower Lake coach Niki Emberson said of the Trojans’ effort.
Marnae Johnson led the team with four kills and libero Maria Santos had nine digs.
“She was all over the place, getting to balls that weren’t even hers,” Emberson said of Santos.
Another Lower Lake bright spot was Jordan Rivera, who led the team with 21 digs.
“She covered a lot of ground,” Emberson said.
Willits won the JV match 26-24, 25-20.
Sonoma Academy def. Upper Lake
At Santa Rosa, the Upper Lake Cougars grabbed the first set but the Sonoma Academy Coyotes rallied for a 18-25, 25-12, 25-21, 25-17 victory in NCL II action.
“We’ve come a long way since the last time we played,” Upper Lake head coach Dani Paige Gudmundson Pena said of a straight-set loss to the Coyotes on Sept. 13 in Upper Lake. “We’ve improved a great deal.”
Among the highlights for the Cougars (5-10) were 10 straight service points from Madison Hicks in the first set, 10 digs by Seneca Snow in the second set, and six kills and five aces by Maria Wade in the third set. Wade led Upper Lake with 12 kills and Kaila Willard finished with 10.
Sonoma Academy also won the JV match, rallying for a 12-25, 25-23, 15-7 victory.
The Cougars celebrate senior night Thursday at home against Rincon Valley Christian. It’s the league and regular-season finale for both teams.
