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Lady Dragons stop El Mo, Analy next

In Sebastopol tonight, host ’Hounds Thursday

No matter when they play, where they are in the Sonoma County League standings, what their rankings are for the postseason, or even if they made the playoffs, whenever the Sonoma Valley High School varsity volleyball girls play longtime SCL rival, El Molino, there’s always an all-out, on-court battle involved.

After being challenged in their first meeting before pulling out a four-set win last month in Forestville, the defending co-champion Lady Dragons hosted El Molino last Thursday night in Pfeiffer Gym and both teams were, of course, knotted at 9-9 in the first set.

But the Sonoma spikers took any remaining drama out of the scenario by reeling off nine straight points to take the first-set 25-18, then they proceeded to leave the visiting Lady Lions clawing from behind for good en route to claiming the match victory with 25-20 and 25-10 second-and-third-set wins, respectively.

With the win, the young Lady Dragons, with only two seniors on the roster, will put their first-place-tied 6-1 record on the line against another longtime SCL foe, co-defending champion Analy, when both teams collide in Sebastopol tonight. In their first meeting, Analy won in four sets.

The Sonoma girls then host league foe Healdsburg this Thursday, Oct. 11, in Pfeiffer Gym, with the junior varsity starting at 5 and the varsity playing at 6 p.m.

Leading the Sonoma girls past El Molino were sophomore Anastasia Claros’ 19 digs; sophomore Delaney Swanson’s 18 digs, 17 kills and one serving ace; sophomore Kayten Mak’s 13 digs; senior Allyson Beckwith and sophomore Ciara Smith’s four kills and one solo block each; sophomore Mackenzie Albrecht’s three kills, one ace and one solo block; and junior Janeth Silva’s solo block and sophomore Hannah Herrick’s one ace.