Warriors down Loggers in Big 5 opener

The Del Norte High  varsity volleyball team played with a purpose, looking  like a team going for its 21st straight conference crown Tuesday night.

In the Warriors Big 5 season opener the squad won 25-18, 27-25, 25-21 over Eureka on the road.

“It was nice to start off on the right foot,” Del Norte co-coach Pablo Lorenzi said.

It was a true team effort as several Warriors had exceptional games.

This included senior Kristen DeBacker who had an unbelievable 22 kills. This included going 7-for-11 on kill attempts in the first game.

“She did a great job,” Lorenzi said. “She really stepped it up.”

In the second game  Del Norte appeared to be in trouble as they fell behind 22-17. Lorenzi said poor serving by Del Norte was a key factor in the team finding itself on the verge of losing.

The Warriors bounced back and proceeded to knock out four straight points to be down by only one.

With the score tied at 24 each, the Warriors were able to hold on for the 27-25 win.

“The most impressive thing was they didn’t panic,”  Lorenzi said. “We didn’t lose our cool.”

In the third game the Warriors dominated things pretty much from the start and did not look back as they took the game to win the contest 3-0.

Lorenzi said he was quite impressed with the effort of the entire team and said it was nice to see everyone stepping up the way they did.

This included senior Katie Rinkevicz, who had 10 kills, 10 assists and seven digs.

“Katie did a heck of a job,” Lorenzi said. “She ran the show out there.”

Junior Vanessa Alexandre had a terrific game on defense, Lorenzi said, especially as a second server. Alexandre had six assists.

“She just put the ball where we needed it,” he said.

Paula Rhodes had seven kills, nine assists and nine digs.

 Caitlin O’Reilley had three aces and five digs. Brilynn Welch had three aces and 10 digs. Lexie Nelson had four kills for the Warriors.

During practice the past week, Lorenzi said, the coaches empathized the importance of teamwork, intensity and position on the court.

He was pleased that the girls took this to heart and executed well in a crucial game.

“We had people going after it tonight,” he said.

The win preserves a remarkable streak for the Warriors.  They have not lost a Big 5 game since 2005. The win improved Del Norte to 10-9 for the year while the Loggers dropped to 13-11.