LOWER LAKE — Despite losing setter Jayden Paulich to an ankle injury early in the match, the Kelseyville Knights fought their way back to beat a determined Lower Lake High School squad 23-25, 25-23, 23-25, 25-15, 15-13 in North Central League I varsity volleyball action Thursday night in Lower Lake.
Paulich went down with an ankle injury in the second set and Kelseyville head coach Donelle McCallister said she wasn’t sure how serious it was.
Forced to shuffle their lineup, the Knights (1-1) moved Ashlyn Klein from the back row to setter and Lilly Wiser to outside hitter. Both players were instrumental in Kelseyville’s comeback victory, according to McCallister, as was sophomore Olivia Hommer, who had all of her team-leading 10 aces in the final two sets to rally the Knights.
“Ashlyn did an outstanding job the last 3 1/2 sets,” McCallister said. “She had 31 assists.”
Wiser contributed six kills and three aces.
“One of the few who kept hitting the ball in the court for us,” McCallister said of Wiser.
Victoria Rodriguez also helped out with her serving, according to McCallister.
“Nothing is going to be easy for us this season,” McCallister said.
“I’m so proud of my girls and how they’ve come together as a team so early in the season,” Lower Lake head coach Kate Anderson said. “We’re really focused on being a team first this season. I’m super excited.”
Anderson coached Lower Lake’s junior varsity squad last season before taking over as varsity head coach during the final two weeks of the 2021 season.
“I have four returning varsity players and another senior (Madalynn Chernoh) who couldn’t play last year,” Anderson said of her 2022 squad. “I also have one junior and a lot of sophomores. There is a lot of upcoming young talent.”
Chernoh and Bella Salazar (three kills) led the Trojans up front. A handful of Katlyn Rosales digs and Avery Adamcyk’s setting were other strengths in Lower Lake’s five-set battle with the Knights.
“We fought hard but we were exhausted and lost the fourth match,” Anderson said. “The fifth set was so close but we lost in the end. With how well the girls are playing this early in the season, I can’t wait to see where we go from here.”
Kelseyville also won the JV match, 25-15, 25-21.
The Knights return to action Saturday in the Novato Tournament before resuming league play Tuesday in Fort Bragg. Lower Lake is home Tuesday to play Cloverdale.
In other league action Thursday:
Clear Lake def. Willits
At Lakeport, the Clear Lake Cardinals had a big night at the service line while making quick work of the Willits Wolverines, 25-7, 25-9, 25-17. It was the league opener for Clear Lake (8-1) while Willits fell to 0-2 in the NCL I standings.
Clear Lake has now won eight straight matches, all in the minimum number of sets. Despite going only three sets against Willits, the Cardinals amassed 16 aces.
“That’s crazy, that doesn’t happen often,” Clear Lake head coach Marci Psalmonds said of the high ace total for a three-set match.
Sierra Bruch, the Cardinals’ senior setter, also served 16 straight points to close out the second set. It was 9-9 when she stepped to the line.
“Willits struggled on serve receive all night,” Psalmonds said.
Bruch finished the night with 19 points, six aces and 18 assists, all team highs. Rubi Ford added 18 points and five aces, Stella Hill had 11 points and three aces, and Amber Smart finished with seven points and two aces.
Up front, the Cardinals were led by Abby Mertle and Quincy Paarsch with six kills apiece and Hill with three kils.
“The fan support was great again,” Psalmonds said. “It was whiteout night … everyone wore white.”
Clear Lake’s junior varsity team also swept Willits, 25-10, 25-11, behind 12 service points, four aces, three kills and one block from Kaylah Billig, 10 points, six digs and three aces from Atiana Patino, and seven assists, three kills and one ace from Emily Gersalia, who also had four digs, all of which kept Clear Lake rallies alive and led to team points.
“Without her hustle tonight we don’t win as easily as we did,” Clear Lake head coach Morgan Psalmonds said. “That’s why she got my hustle award a year ago as a freshman.”
The Cardinals continue to improve with every match, according to Psalmonds.
“We finally have our rotations down and can get to work on volleyball aspects,” Psalmonds said.
Clear Lake’s teams are home Tuesday to play St. Helena.
Fort Bragg def. Middletown
At Fort Bragg, while senior Kamryn Atkins returnd to the Middletown lineup following an ankle injury sustained two weeks ago, her replacement during that time — Cora Holley — was unavailable to the Mustangs during a 25-15, 25-14, 23-25, 25-21 loss to the Fort Bragg Timberwolves.
Holley sustained a broken ankle Wednesday during practice, according to head coach Vanessa Davis, who had planned on easing Atkins back into the starting lineup. Instead, Atkins played the entire match against the Timberwolves.
“She was not close to 100 percent,” Davis said of Atkins. “But she did great.”
Unfortunately for the Mustangs (1-1), a bad first two sets sealed their fate against the Timberwolves (2-0).
“We did nothing the first two sets,” Davis said. “We were really flat and not impressive at all. In the third set we began to have more energy and were picking it up. All of our stats came in the third and fourth sets.”
Skylar Williams had the best all-around night for the Mustangs with 16 digs, eight service points, four aces and four kills. Camille Schaffer added six kills and Atkins finished with four kills and one block.
“Fort Bragg has good outside hitters and a solid libero,” Davis said. “But they’re beatable and we can beat them if we play better. I feel good about playing them at home (Sept. 27).”
Montana Robles’ 29 digs led Fort Bragg while Carmen Velazquez had five kills on six arm swings with 21 assists. Maddie Triplett added a team-best seven kills.
“We played great the first two games, but fell apart a little in the third,” Fort Bragg head coach Kimberly Mertle said.
Middletown’s JVs also had a tough night, losing 25-19, 25-13.
“We had a lot of errors on our end,” Middletown head coach Erika Galvan said. “They really killed us.”
Middletown started out well enough, according to Galvan, before the mistakes began to pile up.
“In the first set we had seven in the net calls. We unraveled a little bit,” she said. “We put together good runs late in both games, but we couldn’t catch up.”
Middletown’s teams travel to Upper Lake on Thursday in non-league action. They resume league play next Thursday at home against St. Helena.
