LAKEPORT — Clear Lake High School head coach Marci Psalmonds and Middletown High School head coach Vanessa Davis shared one thing in common Tuesday night as Clear Lake beat Middletown 25-18, 25-22, 25-19 in North Central League I varsity volleyball action at Lakeport.
Neither was very happy with their team’s performance.
“Our passing was horrendous in our first two games and we need to fix our serve receive,” Psalmonds said as the Cardinals improved to 3-1 in league play. “We had 14 serve receive errors.”
Outside of senior Camille Schaeffer’s eight points for the Mustangs (2-2), Middletown’s serving wasn’t up to snuff, according to Davis, who said her team’s overall play suffered for a variety reasons, including a pulled back muscle that senior libero Jaidyn Brown is trying to play through.
“I don’t think she was even 50 percent,” Davis said of Brown. “Clear Lake is a put-together team, but if we’re 100 percent, even 90 percent on our A game, we give them a match.”
Davis said her team’s nine service errors is uncharacteristic.
“We’re usually a very good serving team, but tonight we struggled,” she added.
Clear Lake will have plenty of opportunities in the coming days to work out its problems, according to Psalmonds. The Cardinals are on the road Thursday in Lower Lake for a league match, they travel to Eureka on Friday to play St. Bernard’s in a varsity-only non-league action, and they are back on the court Saturday at the Arcata Tournament.
Stella Hill and Sierra Bruch had the best night of all the Cardinals. Hill finished with 10 kills and five digs while Bruch, the team’s senior setter, led Clear Lake with 27 assists, 23 digs and 11 service points. Abby Mertle tied Hill with 10 kills and Amber Smart had 19 digs.
“She had an all-around good game,” Psalmonds said of Hill.
Schaffer had four kills and a block to go along with her eight service points for Middletown. Mia Hoogendoorn, a sophomore outside hitter, also had a good night with four kills, two solo blocks and three assists. Skylar Williams added five kills.
“She probably had one of her best games for sure,” Davis said of Hoogendoorn.
In junior varsity action, the serving of Clear Lake’s Rachel Fred and Violet Stewart made all the difference as the Cardinals rallied from deficits in both sets to beat Middletown 26-24, 26-24.
Fred subbed into the match late in both sets because of her serving prowess and came through both times. She finished the night with six points and three aces.
“All came at crucial times in both sets,” Clear Lake head coach Morgan Psalmonds said.
Stewart, another Clear Lake substitute, added six points and four aces from the service line.
“They went in and did the job they were asked to do and I appreciate it,” Psalmonds said.
Also for Clear Lake, libero Atiana Patino had 12 digs, 12 points and five aces while Halley Escalera contributed five kills and five digs.
“I think it’s finally starting to click for us,” Psalmonds said.
Middletown’s struggles at the service line didn’t help her team’s cause, according to head coach Erika Galvan.
“We made seven service errors in the second set and lost by two points,” Galvan said.
Taylor Thompson’s four kills led the Mustangs and Evelyn Finney had three. Other team leaders were Harley Holley with three aces and Leahmya James West with nine service points, four of them aces.
Both Clear Lake and Middletown are on the road Thursday — Clear Lake at Lower Lake and Middletown at Kelseyville.
