LAKEPORT — The Bay School Breakers from San Francisco ended Clear Lake's bid for a sectional volleyball championship Wednesday night with a 25-9, 25-19, 25-16 victory in the semifinal round of the North Coast Section Division 5 playoffs at Lakeport.
Clear Lake (30-4) isn't quite done yet, however. The Cardinals will learn on Sunday where they've been seeded in the NorCal bracket of the CIF State Championship playoffs, which begin Tuesday with first-round matches at sites and times to be determined.
"They're just a better team," Clear Lake head coach Marci Psalmonds said of the Breakers. "They play fairly quick, which is good for us, but we were completely off in the first game. We competed in the last two games well."
The Bay School (20-3), the undefeated Bay Counties Central champion this season, advances to the Division 5 championship game Saturday against No. 1 seed Urban, a 25-21, 25-21, 25-16 winner over No. 4 seed Berean Christian of Walnut Creek in the other semifinal played Wednesday. Urban defeated The Bay School in four sets in non-league action earlier this season.
The Breakers have yet to drop a set in the sectional playoffs. They swept Summit Tamalpais in the first round and Salesian in the quarterfinals before doing the same thing to Clear Lake. Urban had a first-round bye before beating College Prep and Berean Christian in straight sets.
Clear Lake, the No. 2 playoff seed, defeated No. 15 Hoopa in three sets in first-round action and No. 7 Drew of San Francisco in four sets in the quarterfinals to reach the semifinal round. Drew finished tied for second behind The Bay School in the Bay Counties Central standings this season.
"They're way better than RUP," Psalmonds said when asked to compare The Bay School to Roseland University Prep, the undefeated North Central League I champions who beat Clear Lake twice this season. "They're just a well-rounded team. Whatever we did they countered. They don't just have one or two hitters, they have three or four."
Clear Lake had its hands full just digging out The Bay School's kill attempts and struggled to initiate its offense.
"We didn't play bad, we just couldn't get our offense going, that was the main issue," Psalmonds said. "We would dig it up and were not able to set up a good offense."
Clear Lake's offensive struggles were born out by the team's statistics against the Breakers. Rubi Ford and Quincy Paarsch led the team in kills with three apiece while middle hitter Abby Mertle and outside hitter Stella Hill, two of the Cardinals' biggest weapons at the net, were limited to two kills apiece. Mertle also had a team-best four blocks.
"We missed only one serve, so that was good," Psalmonds said. "But their serving was phenomenal."
Libero Amber Smart dug out 14 balls while Sierra Bruch had 13 digs and nine assists.
"I'm proud of them," Psalmonds said when asked about her players reaching the semifinals for the first time under her watch as Clear Lake's head coach. "The girls were upset of course, but we're not done yet. We still have some volleyball left to play."
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