Johnson’s 20 kills not enough to save Middletown in NCL I road match
Editor’s note: Middletown head coach Norberto Quiroz announced his resignation, effective immediately, early Wednesday afternoon.
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ST. HELENA >> Middletown and St. Helena played the full five sets on Tuesday night in St. Helena, the host Saints taking advantage of numerous hitting mistakes by the Mustangs to emerge with a 25-9, 24-26, 27-25, 21-25, 15-11 victory in North Central League I varsity volleyball action.
“Tough loss again,” Middletown head coach Norberto Quiroz said. “The kids played through some quirky play and pushed the match to a fifth set. Errors were a significant part of our play.”
Carly Johnson was the exception, according to Quiroz. With a point differential of plus-12 compared to Middletown’s overall differential of minus-16, Johnson led the way up front with 20 kills on 35 attempts. Isa Barnes recorded 39 assists while feeding the ball to Johnson, Makayla Mace (12 kills) and Mia Hoogendoorn (11 kills).
“Back to the practice court,” Quiroz said.
Middletown (2-3) wraps up the first half of its league schedule with a road match Thursday in Upper Lake (1-5) followed by a home match – its first in league play because of gym renovations – next Tuesday against Clear Lake. The Mustangs play six of their final seven league matches at home.
St. Helena rallied to win the junior varsity match 15-25, 25-12, 15-9.
Bridget Lisenbee led the Mustangs (3-2) with 13 digs, 10 assists, four aces and one kill, and Izzi Hoogendoorn had four kills, three aces and one assists.