LAKEPORT — Clear Lake High School hosts Colusa in the opening round of the NorCal bracket of the Division 5 state volleyball playoffs Tuesday night at 6 p.m. in Lakeport.
Clear Lake (30-4) is the No. 3 seed in the NorCal bracket even though it lost to No. 14 seed Colusa in four sets in the season opener between the two schools on Aug. 16 in Colusa.
“Well, they were our first game and we didn’t play well,” Clear Lake head coach Marci Psalmonds said. “We are way better (now), but I am sure they have gotten better too. It should be interesting. I think they are definitely better than a 14 (seed).”
Psalmonds said Clear Lake’s high seeding in the NorCal field is probably because of its upset win over Willows, the No. 2 seed in the NorCal bracket, during the Arcata Tournament back on Sept. 10.
“I think us beating and upsetting Willows in Arcata shifted things around,” Pslamonds said.
If the Cardinals can beat Colusa this time around, they’ll host the first-round winner between No. 6 seed East Nicolaus (23-4) and No. 11 Hanford (19-12) in the NorCal quarterfinals on Thursday at 6 p.m. East Nicolaus won the Sacramento Valley League this season, finishing ahead of Willows (second) and Colusa (third).
Clear Lake finished second in the North Central League I standings this season and reached the semifinals of the North Coast Section Division 5 playoffs before losing to The Bay School of San Francisco. Urban beat The Bay School in the Division 5 championship match Saturday. Both of those teams were bumped up into the Division 4 NorCal playoffs.
Other top-five seeds in the NorCal Division 5 bracket are No. 1 Skyline (19-2) of Oakland, No. 4 Big Valley Christian (21-6) of Modesto and No. 5 Berean Christian (20-9) of Walnut Creek.
Semifinal-round matches are Saturday and the NorCal and SoCal championship matches are Nov. 15. The state championship match is Nov. 18.
