Warriors VB squad goes 1-6 at tourney

While the Del Norte Warriors varsity volleyball team only went 1-6 at a two-day tournament in Chico, head coach Robyn Parker said the team did a number of positive things despite the losses against tough competition.

The first day, on Friday, was the hardest, Parker said, with Del Norte playing at the gym of host Pleasant Valley. Temperatures were above 100 degrees and the gym had no air conditioning, which proved difficult for the girls who are used to a cooler climate as they tried not to get heat exhaustion.

“It was tough,” Parker said.

The Warriors lost 2-0 to Enterprise, Bret Harte and Pleasant Valley.

On Saturday, the squad moved to Chico High, which had air conditioning, and played a lot better.

They opened things up with a 2-0 win against Oroville. In the second contest it was a battle against Paradise, with Del Norte losing in three games and narrowly falling in the final contest 15-12. They ended the tournament with  2-0 losses to Sutter and Andrew Hill.

 “There was not a team there that really beat us,” Parker said. “All of the scores were pretty close.”

Del Norte fell to 5-9 for the year.

Senior  Keirstyn Anderson had a strong tournament, finishing with 35 kills. Kylee Bruder had 18 kills while Morgan Laney had 13 and Ayashe Padon had 10 kills. She also led the team in aces with five.

Parker hopes that tough tournaments like this will help better prepare the team for the Big 5 Conference season. She said the squad has improved on a number of things, such as doing a better job serving and getting points on the board.

On Thursday, Del Norte played in a last-minute game against Brookings at home and won in three games in a best-of-five format, 25-11, 25-20 and 25-19.

Today, the two teams meet again up in Brookings.

The contest begins after the junior varsity game, which starts at 5:30 p.m.