Live court in Colusa

Erika Lemenager didn't scream. She didn't scold or come up with some metaphor to motivate her flailing Colusa High volleyball team. She just said what she always does when she calls a timeout.

"There's nothing I can say or do, it's up to you," said the Redskins' Katelyn Mena, echoing the words of her second-year coach.

It's not flashy. It's not original, but it works, and the host Redskins won the Colusa Volleyball Tournament on Saturday.

"The goal was to win this tournament, it was our tournament and we were facing some good competition," Lemenager said.

Greenville was second, Marysville finished third and Tulelake was fourth. Wheatland came in fifth and Faith Christian, Maxwell and Williams respectively rounded out the placing in the eight-team tournament.

Though the day ended in celebration for the Redskins, it started with frustration. Around the time most were waking up for breakfast, Colusa was serving up its worst game of the season. In their tournament-opening game against Maxwell, the Redskins fell 27-25, 25-23 in an effort that displeased the entire squad.

"After that loss we decided we needed to change," Mena said. "We changed our attitude because that's probably the worst we've played."

The Redskins wouldn't lose again. They topped Tulelake 25-19, 25-20 and beat Wheatland 25-20, 25-20 but did run into some trouble against the Pirates.

After an 11-11 tie in the second game, Wheatland took a 16-12 lead that was keyed by Colusa errors. That prompted Lemenager to call that timeout, utter that same speech she always does, and see if her girls could respond.

They answered with a 6-0 run and endured a long rally, including playing the ball off their gym's ceiling, to earn the final point in the win.

"They're a scrappy bunch, they seem to have a little more heart," Lemenager said.

The Redskins then breezed through the finals 25-20, 25-14. Mattie Myers had 12 consecutive service points, Emily Mobley had six kills, five digs and seven assists and Caroline Meyers had seven digs, four kills and four blocks.

On the day, Caroline Meyers finished with 23 digs, 14 kills and 12 blocks and Mobley had 38 assists, 17 digs, 13 kills and eight aces.

Mattie Myers had 13 kills and 10 digs and Mena added 26 digs for the Redskins.

In the third place game, Marysville topped Tulelake 25-12, 25-19. Wheatland won the fifth place game 20-25, 25-22, 15-6 and Maxwell took seventh with a 25-20, 25-19 win.