ROHNERT PARK — Dani Paige Gudmundson Pena’s night was going to smoothly for it to last. After Upper Lake High School’s varsity volleyball coach watched her team win its first two sets on the road against Credo, things got a bit tougher in this North Central League II varsity volleyball match at Rohnert Park.
Upper Lake did win, 25-16, 25-15, 15-25, 25-21, but it was anything but routine as the Cougars improved to 8-3 in the league standings and 11-10 overall.
“We played together as a team at the end and that’s all that matters,” Gudmundson Pena said.
Gudmundson Pena gave her team Monday off after a long homecoming weekend and the extra bit of rest seemed to help the Cougars in the first set. They struggled after that, falling behind by five points in the second set before pulling out the win, losing the third set, and then falling behind by five points again in the fourth set before rallying for the victory.
Strong serving nights from Treasure Hodges and Taylar Minnis helped the Cougars win the second and fourth sets. In the second set, Hodges served eight straight points. In the fourth set, Minnis reeled off 11 points in a row, including six aces. The senior turned in a solid performance overall with six kills, five blocks and seven digs.
Other Upper Lake leaders were Rylee Dalton with five kills, five points and eight digs, Nathaly Velasco with five kills, eight points and eight digs, and Jordann Gudmundson with seven kills, three blocks and six digs.
Upper Lake returns home Thursday to play Tomales at 5 p.m. There is no junior varsity match.
Junior varsity
Upper Lake’s JV squad maintained its perfect league record with a 25-19, 25-17 win over Credo.
“The girls did great tonight,” Upper Lake head coach Fawn Rave said. “We had a few things to adjust during the match because of injuries and missing players, but the girls worked together well and pulled off the win.”
Ashlyn Wurm filled up the stats sheet for Upper Lake with six aces, six assists, two kills, two digs and one block. Rainy Minton added two kills and one block, Hope Marcks had four assists, and Aimee Schaefers added four kills, one ace and one dig.
