Warriors defeat Panthers to earn Big 5 crown outright

 Another regular season has come to an end with the Warriors still  on the mountaintop despite repeated attempts by the other teams to push them off.

The Del Norte High varsity volleyball team won its 21st straight Big 5 Conference title with a 25-23, 25-22, 22-25, 25-20 win on the road against the McKinleyville Panthers Tuesday night, winning the Big 5 crown outright.

To be the squad the other conference teams are gunning for year after year after year and always being able to reload is something the Warriors have perfected to a science.

Despite returning only two starters from last season and a total of four seniors and losing one of their best players in Katie Rinkevicz midseason due to a knee injury, Del Norte put aside the naysayers and just went out and played as a team

“I’m really happy for the girls,” Warrior co-coach Pablo Lorenzi said. “The girls did what they needed to do to win the title. It just proves if you work hard and work together you will get the result that you want.”

This was a true team effort as several Warriors had excellent games.

This included senior Kristen DeBacker, who led the team with 25 kills. Senior Paula Rhodes had a great all-around game with 12 kills, 12 digs, two aces and 25 assists.

Del Norte completed the Big 5 with a 7-1 record and improved to 16-10 overall. If they had lost Tuesday’s contest they would have co-shared the title with Eureka.

The Warriors came out fired  up the first two games to  go up  2-0. “Our focus was really good,” Lorenzi said.

In the third game Lorenzi said the team made too many mistakes and let the Panthers earn the win.

Game four was a different story as the Warriors were able to settle down and win by five points.

Lorenzi said the “chances are high” that Del Norte will host a first round Northcoast Section playoff game.

The Warriors will find out where they are seeded on Sunday. NCS play is set to begin on Nov. 11.