LAKE COUNTY— The Upper Lake Cougars won their road conference match Tuesday over Lower Lake 3-0 improving their overall record to 5-4 and 2-3 in League play.
“We had a rocky start to the game. We were lacking energy and communication, something we’ve struggled with all season long,” said Lower Lake coach Amanda Daly. “The girls have been working really hard in practice to improve their skills and increase their communication. It started to show in the third set but it was just a little too late. We were scrappy on defense with 57 digs. We also had 7 aces, 11 kills, and 1 block. It allowed us to extend the rallies and see some exciting volleyball.”
“The first two matches were pretty smooth,” Upper Lake head coach Dani Gudmundson told Lake County Sports. “We looked great, we played great. The third match was a little rocky. As you can see by the score we got caught on our heels a lot of the time and started playing their game instead of ours.”
Upper Lake leaders were Ashlyn Wurm with 13 assists, nine kills and five service points and Lupita Sanchez with 15 points and 19 assists. Jaydyn Poe led the Cougars with 13 kills and added six service points. She was named the player of the match.
The Cougars’ undefeated JV squad (5-0 league, 9-0 overall) beat Lower Lake 25-22, 25-14 behind seven aces and three assists from Amelia Specials and four aces, three kills and a block from Alyssa John, accordign to LCSports.
In other action, the Clear Lake Cardinals also rallied from a one-set deficit to outlast the Middletown Mustangs in a five-set marathon. The score of that match was 25-27, 25-23, 25-19, 15-25, 16-14. Middletown coach Vanessa Davis called it the best volleyball that she has seen her team play all season. “Long rallies and incredible defense mixed in with huge offensive attacks! This is the Mustangs I want to watch all season! I felt their fire and their team work come alive.” she said.
Stat Leaders-
Junior OH Makayla Mace- 10 kills and 21 digs. Makayla had an amazing offensive night. Her hits are finally landing!
Sophomore MB Carly Johnson- 12 Kills, 4 aces, 3 solo blocks.
Senior OH Cora Holley- 9 kills, 19 digs, 1 ace.
Junior Setter Jaylee Doris- 32 Assists, 3 kills, 23 digs, 2 aces.
Next for the Upper Lake Cougars is a home game Thursday against Fort Bragg (4-5) while the Trojans will try to improve on the road against Clear Lake (9-1). The Middletown Mustangs has a league game at home against the Kelseyville Knights (7-2)
