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Berkeley girls win another one

By Jared Green
Friday October 25, 2002

The Berkeley High girls volleyball team continued their dominance of league competition on Thursday, giving up just six points while beating De Anza High, 15-1, 15-3, 15-2. 

The Lady Jackets took a 14-0 lead in the first game and never looked back despite some uninspired play in the second and third games of the match. 

“Really, [De Anza] should have only scored two points in the whole match,” Berkeley head coach Justin Caraway said. “We were just kind of going through the motions after the first game.” 

Middle blocker Vanessa Williams led the Jackets with 10 kills and six digs, while outside hitter Amalia Jarvis had six kills. The overwhelmed De Anza players were happy to escape the match without injury, as the Berkeley hitters bounced several hard spikes off of their opponents’ heads and chests. 

“Our offense did an outstanding job today,” Caraway said. “Our hitters were really on their games.” 

The win extended Berkeley’s Alameda-Contra Costa Athletic League winning streak to 23 since the Jackets entered the league in 2000.  

Caraway doesn’t expect his team to lose another game, much less a match, before hosting their tournament after the regular season is over. Encinal High is the league’s second-best team, but the Jets recently lost their best player to a sprained ankle, which means the Jackets will likely roll right over them when the teams meet on Tuesday. 

Berkeley hasn’t played a competitive match in nearly a month, but with San Ramon Valley, Piedmont and Redwood coming to the tournament Caraway’s team will get a stiff test before North Coast Section playoffs begin. Berkeley won the NCS crown last season. 

“We’ll get to see where we are when we play those teams,” Caraway said. “We have some pretty big questions going into NCS.” 

Notes: The Yellowjackets tied a California high school record with 27 aces against Richmond on Tuesday.