Jaguars beat College Park in three sets to extend record to 3-0
The Jaguars continued their hot start on the preseason volleyball circuit last week, scoring a win over College Park High School in Pleasant Hill in straight sets; 25-18, 25-12 and 25-15.
The victory kept the Jags perfect in the initial phase of the season with a 3-0 record. The team will now turn its focus to the all-important North Bay League schedule which gets underway on Sept. 13 (after press time) with an opening match against defending NBL champion Maria Carrillo. Windsor will visit Ukiah this Thursday, Sept. 15 and return home to face Santa Rosa next Tuesday, Sept. 20. Match times starting with the frosh are 4/5/6:30 p.m.
The Sept. 8 clash at College Park left plenty of room for improvement from a Windsor standpoint, as the Jaguars overcame some early mistakes to settle down for a relatively easy win.
“Game one was like a roller coaster ride for our team,” WHS veteran coach Rich Schwarz reported. “We’d have a couple amazing plays followed by a couple of errors.”
The Jaguars shook off their miscues (11 errors) in game one, settling down nicely with outstanding play from defenders Nikki Young, Kylie Benjamin and Celina Sylvester in cruising to a 25-18 win.
“To the girls credit they stayed calm and talked about if they just cleaned up their play that they would be able to take over the rest of the match,” Schwarz noted.
“Once game two started they did exactly what they set out to do and ran out to a 7-1 lead.”
The Jaguars rode the hot hand of senior outside hitter Allison Post (3 kills) and the steady setting of Bridget Aikawa in a dominant second set, powering to a 25-12 win.
It was more of the same in game three, as Windsor’s starters jumped out to a fast 15-5 lead. Middle hitters Brittany Johnson and Elena Dyer contributed one kill and a block, while right side hitter Cheloy Gonzalez added a kill and several great defensive saves to fuel the momentum.
College Park refused to go quietly, mounting a strong rally that cut the deficit to 20-13. Windsor’s Destiny Clark and Lindsay Tucker would put an end to their opponent’s upset hopes with a pair of big outside kills as the Jags won the set and match, 25-15.
Statistical leaders for Windsor included Post (12 kills, 2 aces), Aikawa (18 assists, 6 aces), Dyer (2 kills, 3 blocks) and Clark (5 kills, 2.25 serve receive average).
