The Lady Jaguars wrapped up a solid North Bay League volleyball campaign this week, claiming two wins in three outings to finish in fourth place.
On Sunday, Windsor (6-5, 11-10) was awarded the #8 seed in the North Coast Section Division 2 playoff tournament, opening up on Wednesday, Nov. 1 at #9 seeded Alameda (7 p.m.). Should the Jags win, they’ll advance to play the survivor of the #1 Bishop O’ Dowd versus #16 Concord match on Saturday, Nov. 4 (time TBA).
All things considered, the NCS seeding was seen as a favorable result within the Windsor camp.
“I was pleased with the 8th seed since we didn’t have enough quality wins to move up much higher,” WHS coach Rich Schwarz said. “I was thinking that the 8th seed would give us a home game vs. the #9 seed, but unfortunately Alameda won their league which gives them an automatic home game. The good news is that we have already traveled to Alameda this season and came away with a hard fought 3-1 win.”
Jags close out league
It was a busy final week of NBL action for the Jaguars with a full slate of matches following the recent fires, beginning with an Oct. 24 three-set win at Ukiah. Windsor followed up with another relatively easy win in straight sets at Casa Grande the following night. The Jaguars played their third match in as many nights on Senior Night on Oct. 26 against visiting Santa Rosa, falling to the unbeaten Panthers in three games.
“We handled both Ukiah and Casa Grande pretty easily, but Santa Rosa was simply the better team that night,” Schwarz noted. “They played better team defense than we did, which is a part of our game where we rarely get outplayed.”
Junior outside hitter Destiny Clark paced the attack against Ukiah and Casa Grande with a combined 35 kills and only one hitting error. Other standouts included sophomore outside Madison Weber (15 kills, 7 aces), junior middle hitter Elena Dyer (8 kills, 11 blocks, 8 aces), senior setter Kaitlyn Alger (44 assists) and senior libero Samantha Stewart (32 digs).
Month of adversity
The Lady Jaguars have faced their share of challenges this month. In addition to the fires, the team lost starting libero Kylie Benjamin and defensive specialist Rene Tolson to injuries. Through it all, the team has grown into a cohesive unit.
“If you combine our injuries with the devastating fires that have impacted so many people, it put the luxury of being able to play volleyball in perspective for all the girls,” Schwarz reflected. “They have stuck together well as was shown by how they played after the week and a half layoff from league play.”
