Prep roundup: Windsor volleyball rallies past Maria Carrillo to take top spot in NBL-Oak

In a thrilling back-and-forth volleyball match at Maria Carrillo on Thursday night, Windsor rallied to a four-set victory over the Pumas, 21-25, 25-17, 25-23, 25-23, to claim an early lead atop the North Bay League-Oak standings.

After the Pumas (19-5, 3-1) took the first set behind a run orchestrated and eventually ended by Sophia Heller the Jaguars (15-7, 4-0) got a wire-to-wire win in the second set, scored a nail-biting win in the third and then held on for another narrow win in the fourth.

“I think we made a lot of errors in the first game, more errors than what our game plan was,” said Windsor head coach Christen Hamilton. “We really settled down, I felt like we were serving tougher in the next three sets and I thought that our defense was really backing us up.”

The third set, which ultimately turned the tide in Windsor’s favor, was played nearly point-for-point until the Jaguars created some separation at 16-11, only to see the Pumas rally back and tied the score at 23. But in the end, Windsor hung on, scoring the last two points to take a commanding 2-1 set lead.

“I think in that third set we were kind of like ‘This is it. We need to take this,’” said junior outside hitter Taylor Boyce, who had 13 kills and 18 digs. “We know we can work hard enough to get there, we know they, Carrillo – oh my goodness, they played their hearts out – we knew they wanted it too so we had to match that and trust everyone on the court.”

In the fourth, the Jaguars appeared headed for a relatively comfortable victory as they led 24-19 but Carrillo made things interesting as it rattled off four straight points to get the rowdy home crowd back in it. Sophomore Haven Trechter put an end to the rally with a kill, her team-best 19th of the match.

Other big players for Windsor were senior setter Emma Smith (26 assists), sophomore setter Brielle Galli (15 assists) and junior libero Sydney Parlato (30 digs).

Heller paced the Pumas with 21 kills and 18 digs, while Maria Scaletti had 30 assists and four aces and Caroline Cooper added eight kills. The loss ends a four-game winning streak for the Pumas, who will look to even the season series at Windsor on Oct. 18.

The Jaguars have another good test next week when they play at Cardinal Newman (14-10, 3-1), who is now tied for second in league with Maria Carrillo.

“I think this was definitely one of our most important wins,” added Boyce. “Newman and Carrillo are always our biggest rivals because the schools are so athletic and so physical and that’s what we are. … We’ve kind of built up to this game, like in practices it’s been ‘Carrillo, Carrillo, Carrillo’ and now it’s going to be Newman. It’s just understanding that we can always win and there’s always that potential to get there, we just have to believe in ourselves.”

In other volleyball action on Thursday, the Cardinals got three-set sweep of Montgomery, 25-11, 25-22, 25-9. Ali Farquhar led the way with 23 kills while Tessa Sovel had nine kills and Kimberly Wilson added eight aces and 45 assists.

Santa Rosa also swept Analy, 25-20, 25-14, 25-19, for its first NBL-Oak win. The Panthers are now 9-8 overall and 1-3 in league play, while the Tigers fall to 8-14, 0-4.

In the NBL-Redwood, Rancho Cotate swept Piner, 25-11, 25-15, 25-13, to keep pace with league-leading Ukiah. The Cougars move to 12-9, 4-0 and are set to host Ukiah (18-9, 4-0) next Tuesday.

St. Vincent also got into the win column on Thursday with a three-set sweep of Elsie Allen, 25-14, 25-13, 25-16.

Girls golf

Rancho Cotates’ Clarie Higgins shot the low score of the day, 55, on the par-36 course at Bennett Valley on Thursday in a match against Montgomery. Neither team had enough golfers to record a team score.

Marissa Adams (64) and Aileigh Armour (70) rounded out individual scores for the Vikings while Katelyn Martin led the Vikings with 59, followed by Elena Fifer (65), Maylia Day (65) and Annie Meisler (71).

At Valley of the Moon, Santa Rosa scored 295 points while Windsor recorded an incomplete.

Windsor’s McKenna Murphy shot the low score of the afternoon with a 49 while teammate Alex Martin carded a 57 and JoJo Robertson a 61.

Gracie Pappas led Santa Rosa with a 55 followed by Aiko Yu (57), Annie Malaspina (58), Cassidy Covington (61) and Sydney Duncan (64).

Girls tennis

On Wednesday, Ukiah swept visiting Montgomery 7-0.

Wins in singles went to Maritza Jacobs (6-1, 6-3) at No. 1, Joni Johnson, (7-6, 6-3) at No. 2, Athena Dahl, (6-3, 6-4) at No. 3 and Grace Huff (6-0, 6-0) at No. 4.

In doubles, Montgomery nearly won a marathon match at No. 3, but the Wildcats’ duo of Emily Silva and Sitlaly Morales emerged as 6-0, 4-6, 11-9 victors. No. 1 doubles duo of Nicole Muniz/ Madeline Armstrong won their match 6-2, 6-2, and No. 2 Sydney Steinbuck and Charlotte O'Connor won 6-2, 6-0.

On Tuesday, both Maria Carrillo and Cardinal Newman stayed unbeaten in NBL play as the Pumas beat Montgomery 7-0 and the Cardinals topped Windsor 5-2.

Maria Carrillo (9-0) got singles wins from No. 1 Colleen Morris (6-0, 6-1), No. 2 Shruti Pillai (6-1, 6-0), No. 3. Riya Ramakrishnan (6-0, 6-0) and No. 4 Carly Deng (6-0, 6-0). In doubles, No. 1 Annie Lee and Caroline Graham won 6-0, 6-0, No. 2 Tessa Tappe and Ava McMinn won 6-1, 6-0 and at No. 3 Sebin Park and Caroline Huang won 6-0, 6-0.

Against Windsor, the Cardinals (8-1, 8-0) got wins in singles at No. 3 from Liz Negri (6-3, 6-3) and No. 4 courtesy of Suzanna Hextrum (6-2, 6-1). The Cardinals then swept doubles with wins at No. 1 from Tatum Candelario and Alena Bardashova (6-1, 6-2), No. 2 Isabella Finnerty and Mackenzie Dennis (6-1, 6-0) and No. 3 Cat Coleman and MaKena Mwiti (6-1, 6-0).

You can reach Staff Writer Gus Morris at 707-304-9372 or gus.morris@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @JustGusPD.