Jags to host Ukiah on Sept. 26
It’s been tough sledding for the defending co-champion Jaguars in the early stages of the North Bay League volleyball campaign, as Windsor runs a gauntlet of talented teams.
The Jags (3-2, 1-2) are coming off a challenging opening stretch that included one win in three NBL outings, starting with a three-set victory over Rancho Cotate, but finishing up with four-set losses to Cardinal Newman and Maria Carrillo.
“We just need to put in the work every day at practice to make sure we don’t lose winnable matches in a very tough NBL league,” WHS coach Rich Schwarz reported.
Windsor will resume NBL action on Thursday, Sept. 21 at Montgomery before coming home to host Ukiah on Tuesday, Sept. 26. Start times beginning with the frosh are 4/5/6:30 p.m.
The Jags opened the league season on Sept. 12 at Rancho Cotate, overcoming early jitters to claim the match in three sets; 25-17, 25-7, 25-20.
“With nine new varsity players this season we were a little nervous to start the match,” Schwarz noted. “Game two was the best game we’ve played so far this year. Between games I challenged them to put everything together and see if they could hold the Cougars to 10 points or less and they went out and played a flawless game.”
Statistical leaders were Kaitlyn Alger (3 aces, 22 assists), Destiny Clark (8 kills), Brooke Rooney (2 blocks), Katie Todd (1 ace, 4 digs), Elena Dyer (7 kills) and Madison Weber (9 kills, 1 ace).
The Jags played host to perennial contender Cardinal Newman on Sept. 14, falling in four sets; 23-25, 22-25, 25-14, 14-25.
The tone was established in the first set, as Newman erased an early 17-12 deficit with a big run to claim the game, 25-23.
“This whole match was decided by runs,” Schwarz noted. “It was simply a match where they served and passed serve much better than we did.”
Pacing the Windsor attack were Alger (31 assists), Clark (18 kills, 11 digs, 10 service points), Weber (10 kills, 3 aces, 11 service points) libero Kylie Benjamin (27 digs) and Rene Tolson (leading passer, 8 digs).
Windsor was back on the court on Sept. 19 against visiting Maria Carrillo, again coming out on the short end of a hard-fought match in four; 26-24, 23-25, 22-25, 10-25.
Turning in standout efforts for the Jaguars were Clark (18 kills), Alger (30 assists, 3 aces), Brittany Johnson (6 kills) and Rooney (5 kills, 3 blocks).
