JC volleyball Feather River 3, Shasta 0
(October 22, 2009, by Jeffrey Jen)
The Knights had a four-game winning streak snapped in falling to the Golden Eagles, 25-18, 25-13, 25-20.Sarah Scott had six kills and 18 digs for Shasta (3-1 Golden Valley Conference, 11-10), while Lauren Swetland had six blocks. Missy Copeland finished with 10 digs for the Knights.
Knights get revenge on rival Roadrunners
(October 15, 2009 by Jeffrey Jen)
In the minds of the Knights, a victory over the rival Roadrunners has been a long time in the offing. The Shasta College volleyball team recovered after a disastrous first game to beat Butte 12-25, 25-17, 27-25, 25-21 at home on Wednesday. "It's very nice," Knights sophomore middle blocker Lauren Swetland said. "We've been waiting for this since last season."
The Knights (3-0 Golden Valley Conference, 11-9) were swept by the Roadrunners a year ago and then had a suffer a five-game loss at a tournament earlier this season in a match where they held a two-game lead.
So some payback was in order where Shasta was concerned.
Sophomore Danielle Nance had 10 kills and Lauren Swetland added seven kills and five blocks as the Knights delivered the first blow in what should be a highly competitive league battle this season. Sophomore outside hitter Sarah Scott also had seven kills.
While the second-year players have been waiting for roughly 365 days for a victory over the Roadrunners, they got a lot of help from freshmen Jayme King (seven kills, 27 assists) and Kaitlyn Goff (10 kills) in finally achieving that goal.
Payback was eventually delivered despite some early jitters.
"In our warmups, I noticed that our setters set everything outside 10 feet out of bounds," Knights head coach Kelly Brazil said. "I was thinking, 'Oh boy, the adrenaline is really flowing tonight.' "
Butte came in as the defending GVC champions and the 13th-ranked team in the state and played like it in the first game.
Shasta won the first two points of the contest, but then the Knights hit a few balls long. Shasta immediately went from aggressive to timid and Butte, aided by a couple of aces from setter Tessa Bekendam, proceeded to win 11 straight points.
"It was nerves," Swetland said. "Too much adrenaline. We had been looking forward to this match for weeks."
"They just needed to settle down," Brazil said.
Butte head coach Chuck Johnson was mindful of that too.
"I told the girls after the first game that was an aberration," Johnson said. "Shasta does not play like that. I knew they were going to bounce back."
Shasta did so, jumping out to a 16-5 lead in the second game.
"They came out and turned us inside out much like we did to them in the first game," Johnson said. "I was just trying to get the girls to earn more than 12 points so we could build some momentum for the third game."
Butte did come get to within five late (22-17) before the Knights closed things out. However, Shasta continued to play well into the third game.
Back-to-back jump serves for aces by King put Shasta up 14-6 at one point. However, Butte slowly chipped away and eventually tied things at 22-22.
Then Swetland, the state leader in blocks, then came through on perhaps the biggest point of the match, stuffing Butte's Courtney Fichter to break a 25-25 tie. Nance followed that with a kill from the right side to put Shasta up 2-1.
"It was an intense match," Nance said. "We really wanted to win that game. We fought real hard for it."
The Knights had trouble early in the season.
This time, Shasta finished the job despite falling into a 5-1 hole in the fourth game.
Nance and came up with crucial kills and King added a couple of more aces to build a 14-10 lead.
A couple of times, Butte got to within a point but never could tie things up. King got a kill off a set from Alicia Brown to make it 22-20. After trading the next two points, Nance found the far left corner to put Shasta up 24-21. Goff then went crosscourt on a shot that painted the line at match point. Knights volleyball team sweeps Corsairs
(October 11, 2009 by Jeffrey Jen)
Home, sweet home.
That has to be what the Shasta College volleyball team is thinking right now after spending so much time on the road.
The Knights were never seriously challenged in rolling past College of the Redwoods in three straight sets 25-8, 25-18, 25-13 on Saturday for their third straight victory — all at home.
"The whole month of September we were always on the road," Knights sophomore right-side hitter Danielle Nance said. "We were getting tired. There were a few games we let up when we shouldn't. It's very nice to be home and getting to play in front of our fans."
Shasta (2-0 Golden Valley Conference, 10-9) is in the midst of a four-game homestand, their first four home matches, but the final one of the lot should be a dandy. The Knights host rival Butte at 7 p.m. Wednesday in a key league contest.
Some believe that of the four viable contenders for the GVC crown this season — Shasta, Butte, Siskiyous and Feather River — the Knights have the most talent on their roster. But an uneven preseason has Shasta staring up at the other three teams in the latest state junior college volleyball poll.
"On paper, we are probably the most athletic team of the bunch," Knights head coach Kelly Brazil said. "But we've struggled the most up to this point. We have to make sure we play with more consistency."
Brazil and her team are hopeful that matches played in the comfortable confines of the Shasta College gymnasium would help steady the team. So far, things have gone well. Last week, the Knights dropped the opening set to West Valley then won the next three to take the match. Saturday's win over the Corsairs followed a three-set sweep of Lassen on Friday.
Redwoods played a match at Siskiyous on Friday before spending the night in Redding. However, the Corsairs looked sluggish early on as Shasta's Jayme King and Sarah Scott took turns peppering Redwoods with jump serves right off the bat.
Scott had seven aces and King had four, most coming when Shasta jumped out to a 19-3 lead in the first set.
Redwoods started to settle down a bit and began to receive the ball better as the match wore on.
"Their defense got a lot better," Brazil said. "We hit some hard balls and they dug them up."
But Redwoods doesn't have the array of hitters or the depth the Knights do. Brazil played all three of her setters — King, Alicia Brown and Marissa Westlake — evenly and the ball was spread around.
King had seven kills as did middle blockers Lauren Swetland and Kristen Marold. Nance had six kills and Shasta didn't spend too much time going to outside hitters Scott, the team's kill leader, or freshman Kaitlyn Goff.
While Redwoods' defense got better, the offense was still too inconsistent. Macy Renner and Bekah Kemp had five kills apiece for the Corsairs, but there was little else.
The two teams were tied early in the second set, but Shasta won seven of nine points to pull away, punctuated by two aces from Scott.
Redwoods trailed only 12-10 in the third set, but successive blocks by Megan Panza and Swetland got the Knights rolling again. Shasta ended up winning the last nine points of the match, including three aces by Brown, to set up Wednesday's showdown with Butte.
"We don't know how much potential we have," Nance said. "We're starting to realize what we can do once we starting playing together now."
September 10, 2009 Record Searchlight The Shasta College Knights split a pair of matches, beating Napa and falling to Sierra. The Knights downed Napa 21-25, 25-18, 25-6, 25-21. Sarah Scott led Shasta with 11 kills, Kristen Marold added 10 and Danielle Nance chipped in nine. Lauren Swetland had seven blocks and 19 digs.
The Knights then fell to Sierra 21-25, 25-21, 23-25, 23-25.
Scott had 11 kills and 25 digs, while Scott added five kills and 10 blocks. September 12, 2009 Delta Tournament Shasta went 1-1 to start the first of two days. The Knights beat Solano 25-9, 25-17, 25-18 behind eight kills and 20 digs from Sarah Scott. Danielle Nance had seven kills and three blocks and Lauren Swetland added six kills. Jayme King had 20 assists. The Knights lost to Sacramento City 25-23, 25-12, 25-16 despite six kills from Kristin Marold. September 13, 2009 Delta tournament Shasta College (3-3) finished sixth at the Delta tournament in Stockton. The Knights beat Cabrillo 25-15, 17-25, 25-21, 15-25, 16-14. Jayme King had 14 kills, 21 assists and 22 digs. In a tight 25-18, 25-14, 23-25, 24-26, 14-16 loss to conference rival Butte, Kaitlyn Goff tallied 12 kills. King dished 19 assists and had 17 digs, and Sarah Scott contributed eight kills to go with 24 digs. September 17, 2009 Shasta sweeps pair The Knights gutted out a 3-2 win over host Foothill, winning 27-25, 24-26, 23-25, 26-24, 15-9. Sarah Scott tallied 20 kills to lead the team and Kristen Marold had 14. Lauren Swetland added 14 blocks and Alisha Brown added 24 assists. Shasta (5-3) beat Taft 25-19, 25-17, 19-25, 25-19. September 19, 2009 De Anza 3, Shasta 0 The Knights fell 25-22, 25-23, 26-24 in a tight match. Kristen Marold had six kills and Lauren Swetland tallied six blocks. September 24, 2009 Record Searchlight
Shasta goes 0-2 at DVC The Knights (5-7) opened a two-game lead on host Diablo Valley but fell 22-25, 14-25, 25-12, 25-22, 15-9. They also lost 3-1 to San Francisco City College, 25-21, 25-22, 18-25, 25-21. Sarah Scott tallied 12 kills against DVC and nine against CCSF. Jayme King added 36 assists for the day and Lauren Swetland etched six blocks in each contest. Alysha Thompson was good for 17 digs against San Francisco. September 26, 2009 Record Searchlight San Jose Tournament The Knights went 2-0 in the first day of action. Shasta beat Fresno City 25-16, 25-21, 17-25, 26-24 in its first game.
Sarah Scott had seven kills and 11 digs to lead the way, while Lauren Swetland had nine blocks and Alicia Brown finished with 14 assists. Shasta (7-7) then swept Sierra 26-24, 25-22, 25-16. Scott again led the Knights with 11 kills while Jayme King had 14 assists. Shasta plays Santa Rosa today in the second day of the tournament. September 27, 2009 Record Searchlight Shasta takes fourth Sarah Scott made the All-Tournament team but the Knights (7-9) dropped both games in the San Jose Tournament. Santa Rosa won 26-24, 26-24, 25-13 over Shasta and Foothill beat the Knights 25-15, 25-17, 26-28, 25-18. Scott tallied seven kills against Santa Rosa and Kaitlyn Goff had seven against Foothill. Jayme King added 24 assists. October 1, 2009 Record Searchlight Jeffrey Jen: Knights volleyball glad to be home Road trips are common early in a season. Only the Shasta College volleyball team had to take it to extremes this fall. It's been nearly a month into the season and the Knights volleyball team still has not played at home yet. Instead, it has been road games on Wednesdays and over weekends. Saturday's 4 p.m. game against West Valley marks the first home game of the season. When Shasta does take the court Saturday, the Knights will be looking to make up for what has been a disappointing season so far. The Knights are 7-9, which is uncommon territory for head coach Kelly Brazil, who has never had a losing season at Shasta and is now in her 14th season with the program. Shasta is a team filled with strong hitters, but has been plagued early with passing issues and a lack of consistency. The Knights are coming off a fourth-place showing at the San Jose Tournament last weekend in which they knocked off the likes of Fresno City and Sierra, both of whom are ranked in the top 10 in Northern California. "If we put everything together, we can be pretty formidable," Brazil said about her team. It has been a question of putting it all together. While there have been some issues, Brazil hopes that playing one match at a time and not being on the road will help cure a lot of ills when it comes to her squad. Her players already are looking forward to some home matches. "It took out a lot of our energy being on the road," Knights middle blocker Lauren Swetland said. "Those four-hour bus rides to a place and then back weren't fun." That was what happened to Shasta in San Jose. After a strong first day, the Knights were worn down on Saturday and lost a couple of matches. Now, Shasta finally gets to return to play in its home gym. The West Valley match on Saturday is the first of four straight home games. Shasta hosts Lassen and Redwoods next weekend before a big home date on Oct. 14 with rival Butte. Speaking of the GVC, Brazil expects the league to be a four-way race between the Knights, Butte, Feather River and Siskiyous yet again. Butte (12-5) is ranked 15th in the state (6th in NorCal) and is the highest-ranked GVC member this season. The Roadrunners have a five-set victory over Shasta earlier in the season in a match where the Knights blew a 2-0 lead. "I still don't even want to think about that one," Swetland said.
Feather River (10-6) is No. 18 in the state (7th in NorCal), while Siskiyous (8-6) is 13th in Northern California. Shasta is 14th in NorCal. "It's possible that all four teams can make playoffs again this season," Brazil said about the strength of the GVC. Brazil has been happy with the team's passing and serving of late. She has a plethora of experienced hitters with the likes of middles Swetland and Kristen Marold, outside hitters Sarah Scott and Kaitlyn Goff and opposite hitter Danielle Nance. All except Goff are sophomores. Brazil is looking for a little more consistency from her setters, but has been pleased with the improvements in the passing department. "Passing is something we've been working on a lot," Swetland said. "You need to pass in order to set the ball and get a kill." As for the scheduling quirk that prevented Shasta from not playing at home until October, Brazil chalks it up to the recent state-wise move to pare down the schedule. "Because of the cuts, we're short three games now," Brazil said. "Teams that normally would play here instead were looking to double-up elsewhere." Reporter Jeffrey Jen can be reached at 225-8228 or at jjen@redding.com. October 4, 2009 Record Searchlight Shasta 3, West Valley 1 The Knights (8-9) dropped the first game in the home match but fired back and took the win from West Valley, 25-27, 25-18, 25-23, 25-20. Lauren Swetland tallied 13 blocks and six kills, while Sarah Scott added 10 kills and 22 digs. October 10, 2009 Record Searchlight Shasta 3, Lassen 0 The Knights won 25-13, 25-11, 25-8 in their Golden Valley Conference opener. Jayme King had seven kills and 12 aces, while Sarah Scott had 11 kills for Shasta (9-9).