South Fork Volleyball 1-2 in Early Season

South Fork High’s Varsity Volleyball team will be delighted to move into their newly refurbished gym after being forced to scramble for practice space early in the season as well as have no home games until this Friday’s matches against Laytonville for Homecoming.

So far this season the Lady Cubs have dropped matches to Laytonville (15-25, 11-25, 10-25 back on August 31) and to Potter Valley (6-25, 21-25, 15-25 back on September 5).

Third year head coach Heather Ellis attributes the losses to inconsistent serving and poor communication. She had praise for freshmen Kaylie Valk and Kaya Keefe for their strong presence at the net in the Laytonville match.

On September 6, the Lady Cubs traveled to round Valley and got their first win of the season, 25-13, 25-21 and 25-10. Ellis said that the team communicated better and got strong consistent serving from senior Jasmine Krastes and freshmen Valk and Sophia Studebaker.

The Varsity team is a mixture of 4 seniors and 3 freshmen. Senior Kamia Way is a four-year player and a co-captain. “She’s a strong setter and a good communicator,” said Ellis.

Senior Jasmine Krastes is another 4-year player, also a setter and a co-captain who is a “team leader,” according to Ellis.

Senior Hallie Douglas has played for four years and is strong at the net.

Senior Kylee Girard is a strong hitter, good server and consistent passer for the team.

Freshman Kaya Keefe and Kylie Valk are promising young players learning quickly at the varsity level. Freshman Sophia Studebaker “is a back row specialist who is very good at digging up the ball,” says Ellis.

For the frist time in over a decade South Fork has a junior varsity volleyball team. The team includes sophomores Myrna Navarrete, Jennifer Martinez and Sarah Richardson, as well as freshmen Hazel Baumstone, Bella Sher, and Taylor Randall. The JVs lost to both Laytonville and Potter Valley, and will play when

facing schools that also have JV teams.

Both the Varsity and JVs will host Laytonville this Friday for Homecoming with the JV match beginning at 3:00. It will be the first contest played in the remodeled facility.

Ellis is being assisted by 2016 South Fork grad and all-county athlete Emma Valk.