Kelseyville grinds out three-set victory led by Andon Beall’s hitting, serving
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LOWER LAKE >> Win or lose this past week, things haven’t come easy for a mostly young and learning Kelseyville High School boys volleyball team. Coming off a tough five-set road loss to Ukiah on Wednesday, the Knights bounced back Thursday with a harder-than-expected 25-15, 29-27, 25-15 North Central League I road win over the Lower Lake Trojans.
“Something just hasn’t been clicking this week,” Kelseyville head coach Kc White said. “We struggled keeping our energy level up yesterday versus Ukiah, and we really struggled finding our energy today against Lower Lake.”
Added White, “The gym was quiet at the beginning of the match today and it definitely had an effect on everyone. Playing on the road is something new for a lot of these guys, and they’re learned that teams play better at home. We have to raise our level to theirs in order to compete with them.”
Andon Beall, one of the Knights’ few veterans, led the way with 15 kills, eight digs and seven aces while Julio Lopez added seven kills, seven digs and five assists. Other leaders were Diego Rico with 18 assists and six digs, and George Cline with 17 digs and six aces.
“We had two rotational players miss today, and they will miss the tournament this weekend also due to going to the state FFA conference in Southern California,” White said. “That led to some confusion at the beginning, but they settled in and finished the first set nicely. Then, we had a dip in concentration and energy and Lower Lake took advantage, to their credit. We were playing sloppy volleyball, but Andon Beall’s serving (three consecutive aces late in the set) got us back in it and put us in front. We faced a couple Lower Lake set points, but we battled through. Beall had a big kill to end the second set. The third set started rough again, but Beall’s serving, which has been really good recently, put us in a comfortable position.”
White gave high marks to the play of freshman libero Cline.
“Probably his best game of the season so far,” White said. “He is starting to get more comfortable out there and you see it in his aggressiveness and vocal communication. It’s important for the libero to take charge, and he’s starting to do that.”
White also praised the play of outside hitter Lopez, especially with Kolby Medina unable to suit up.
“He was thrust into the position,” White said of Lopez. “He did very well considering he hasn’t played there much this season.”
Kelseyville is entered in the NorCal Invitational Saturday in Windsor. Play begins at 8 a.m.