MIDDLETOWN — Middletown pushed Colusa hard in the first set before falling 26-24, 25-18, 25-11 to the Redhawks in the varsity volleyball opener for both teams on Tuesday evening in Middletown.
Colusa (1-0) returns several of its top players from last season’s 35-7 club and was missing two of its starters on Tuesday.
“They’re a good, scrappy team for sure,” Middletown coach Vanessa Davis said. “They had some powerful hits and we could not get our hands on them.”
It was the first action of any kind for the Mustangs (0-1), who were 17-15 a year ago, including 9-5 in the competitive North Central League I.
“We hadn’t even had a scrimmage,” Davis said. “We’ve definitely got to put some pieces together.”
Middletown has five returning seniors and six seniors overall, including 2018 starters Abbey Brown (middle blocker), Bella Dubois (middle blocker) and Alessandra Diaz (setter).
Brown had five kills and Dubois four against Colusa, but it was senior outside hitter Mylie Turney who led the way with seven kills to go along with nine digs, both team highs.
“She definitely anchored our team tonight,” Davis said.
Setters Diaz and Haylee Sust contributed eight assists apiece while Brown added five digs, three aces and two blocks.
The Mustangs return to the court Thursday when they host Healdsburg. Junior varsity action starts at 5 p.m.
Colusa defeated Middletown in JV action 23-25, 25-17, 15-7. Standouts for the young Mustangs, who suit up seven freshmen and six sophomores, were Emma Hansen and Sophie Smith, according to coach Erika Galvan.
“And all of them got playing time,” Galvan said.
Individual statistics were not available.
Middletown is now 0-4 on the season after losing all three of its matches on Saturday at the Calistoga Tournament.
