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The Berkeley High girls volleyball team ended its season on a sour note on Tuesday, falling to Castro Valley High in straight games, 15-3, 15-10, 15-6, in the first round of the North Coast Section Division I playoffs. 

The Yellowjackets, the defending NCS champions, couldn’t repeat their dramatic victory of Castro Valley in last season’s playoffs, when Berkeley came back from a 2-0 game deficit to move on to the next round. This time whenever Berkeley went on a run, the Trojans answered right back to put the Jackets back on their heels. 

Berkeley seniors Amalia Jarvis and Vanessa Williams, who are the main weapons in the Yellowjacket offense, combined for just 16 kills in 41 attempts on Tuesday, and head coach Justin Caraway had no other weapons in his arsenal. 

“We didn’t pass worth damn, and we couldn’t run the middle,” Caraway said. “We didn’t get Vanessa involved early or often enough. We don’t have a lot of offense after our big two.” 

The Jackets also committed numerous errors on offense and defense, along with nine service errors. 

“It’s very hard to beat a good team like Castro Valley when you hand them 10 points every game on errors,” Caraway said. “We also had service errors at the worst possible time.” 

Twice Berkeley looked to be gaining momentum, but both times they were thrown back by the Trojans. Down 13-4 in the second game, Berkeley rolled off six straight points, getting the home crowd into a frenzy. But the run stopped there, as the Jackets gave up the final two points of the game. 

The start of the third game looked promising as well, as Berkeley leaped out to a 4-0 lead, with the last point an ace by Nadia Qabazard. But unlike last season, Castro Valley came roaring back, scoring the next 11 points to sew up the win and a semifinal berth. 

“All season we’ve been working on keeping our intensity,” Castro Valley head coach Shari Cabral said. “We found it, and we got back on track.” 

Tuesday’s match was the last in a Berkeley uniform for both Jarvis and Williams, who finished her high school career as the school record-holder for kills. Along with setter Danielle Larue, they formed the backbone of both last year’s NCS champion squad and three straight Alameda-Contra Costa Athletic League champions. 

“Those three are going to be very tough to replace,” Caraway said. “I’ll miss them a lot.”