LAKEPORT — Fresh off its championship Saturday in the inaugural Cougars Invitational at Upper Lake, the Clear Lake High School varsity volleyball team dominated the St. Helena Saints 25-16, 25-11, 25-19 in North Central League I action Tuesday evening in Lakeport.
Clear Lake improved to 2-0 in the league standings while St. Helena fell to 0-2.
“They were covering everything, no holes, and everyone was swinging,” Clear Lake head coach Marci Psalmonds said of the Cardinals’ stellar play on both defense and offense. “We played much better than we did in the tournament. It was good to see.”
Zoey Pepper led a balanced Cardinals attack at the net with 11 kills, Stella Hill added eight more, Abby Mertle had six, and Montana Wells four.
Also for Clear Lake, Raina Clifton led the way with 16 digs while Sydney Howe had team highs in assists with 19 and aces with six. Sierra Bruch added 16 assists and three kills, and Mertle logged a team-best four blocks.
“Raina did a great job,” Psalmonds said. “We picked up everything. There were some long rallies but we kept powering away. This team is pretty consistent.”
The Cardinals face a major test Wednesday when they travel to Santa Rosa to play Roseland University Prep, the newest member of the NCL I. RUP took a 2-0 league record into its league match Tuesday against Willits.
“Tomorrow will be our test,” Psalmonds said.
Clear Lake’s junior varsity squad also improved to 2-0 in league play with a 25-14, 25-17 win over St. Helena. Camrin Pivniska’s nine kills led the Cardinals and Rubi Ford added six more.
Amber Smart had an eight-point run at the service line in the first set for Clear Lake. She finished the night with a team-best 17 assists to go along with three aces. Also having a good night at the line was Rylie Andrews with eight points.
In other volleyball action Tuesday:
Cloverdale def. Lower Lake
At Cloverdale, the Lower Lake Trojans finally made their NCL I debut, losing 25-10, 25-18, 25-18 to the Cloverdale Eagles.
Lower Lake’s first two league matches (against Middletown and Kelseyville) were postponed last week because several Trojans were in COVID-19 quarantine.
“The girls played really, really well,” Lower Lake head coach Cayla Knapp said. “We’re coming together as a team despite the horrendous crowd that was at Cloverdale. The girls were able to keep that noise out and be able to play.
“Really great improvement from the tournament (Saturday in Upper Lake, see related story) to our first league game,” Knapp added.
Cloverdale won the JV match 25-5, 25-8.
Lower Lake hosts Willits on Thursday. JV action starts at 5 p.m.
Ukiah def. Middletown
At Ukiah, the Middletown Mustangs fell 25-17, 25-15, 25-17 to the Ukiah Wildcats in a non-league action.
Head coach Vanessa Davis said the Mustangs struggled throughout the match.
“We weren’t playing our best game tonight,” she said. “Ukiah was hitting bombs at us.”
Parker Wink had a good passing night for the Mustangs and also had two aces, according to Davis, and Camille Schaffer was able to come up with two blocks to go along with one kill and one ace. Sophie Smith contributed two kills and one ace.
Ukiah also swept the junior varsity match 25-22, 25-12.
Middletown resumes its league schedule Thursday at St. Helena. JV action begins at 5 p.m.
