By MARTY JAMES martyjames.sports@gmail.com

Aubri LaPointe, Kendal Widell and Rylee Santos were named to the All-Bay Valley Conference volleyball team for Napa Valley College, Storm head coach Scott Bishop announced on Tuesday.

LaPointe, a freshman outside hitter, was named to the first team.

Widell, a freshman outside hitter, was selected to the second team.

Santos, a freshman setter, was named honorable mention.

"I'm definitely proud for them to get some recognition," said Bishop, the Storm's first-year coach. "They definitely put in a lot of hard work.

"We have a lot of players on our team that worked hard. It's nice to get some of them recognized."

Napa Valley, an all-freshmen team, concluded the 2024 fall season by going 10-14 overall and 5-5 in the Bay Valley Conference.

The Storm went 1-2 over its last three matches of the season and tied for third place in the conference standings.

"All of our freshmen, it's great having them be able to have an impact on the program," said Bishop. "All things considered, it was a great start to our season with an all-freshmen lineup."

Napa Valley did not have a team in 2023, due to not having a coach. Bishop took the program over earlier in the year.

The Storm went 4-3 in home matches.

"I think we were definitely fortunate and lucky to be able to pull all of the 12 freshmen that we got, re-starting the program from scratch," said Bishop. "We got a lot of good experience. We had a good, tough preseason schedule to get us some experience and are definitely looking forward to being able to now just taking a little rest." Bishop said NVC will have a spring program, which will be a combination of indoor and outdoor volleyball and weight lifting. He will also be recruiting players for next year's team.

"With the student housing (River Trail Village), it really gives a big reach all over the country to attract players to Napa. Napa has got a lot to offer, so we're definitely going to try to maximize those resources," said Bishop.

LaPointe played very well for the Storm.

"She's a tremendous athlete. She played front row and back row for us. She was a 6-rotation outside hitter and did a lot of passing, a lot of hitting, a lot of blocking for us," said Bishop.

It was also a very good season for Widell.

"She did a great job serve-receive passing and was our second leading offense kills player on the team as well," said Bishop.

Santos also had a very good season for the Storm.

In their last three matches of the Bay Valley Conference season, the Storm lost at Mendocino, 3-2, and lost at Solano Community College-Fairfield, 3-0, and beat Contra Costa College-San Pablo, 3-0.

Napa Valley lost on Nov. 8 against Mendocino, 27-25, 23-35, 20-25, 25-15, 16-14.

The Storm was led by LaPointe (17 kills, 20 digs, 17 points), Adelina Avila-Navarro (21 digs), Santos (10 digs), Helena White (12 kills, five service aces, six digs, 17 points), Widell (seven kills, 14 digs, seven

points), Caitlin Kenney (four kills, four service aces, five digs, eight points), Sofia Camargo (three kills, five digs, three points), and Ava Pendelton (nine digs).

Napa Valley lost on Nov. 13 against Solano, 25-18, 25-10, 25-13.

The Storm was led by LaPointe (six kills, one block, eight digs), Widell (four kills, one block, 11 digs), and Santos (three service aces, seven assists, two digs).

Napa Valley won at home on Nov. 15, sweeping Contra Costa, 25-13, 25-11, 25-24.

The Storm was led by Santos (13 set assists, eight digs), White (seven kills on a .385 kill percentage, five digs, seven points), Widell (10 kills on a .409 kill percentage, nine digs, 10 points), Keana Daneshmand (three digs), Jordynne Hensley (two kills, three digs, two points), Kenney (two kills, two points), Sydnee Coulthrust (seven set assists, six digs), Camargo (six kills, four set assists, five digs, six points), Pendelton (six digs), and Willow Diamond (three kills on a .286 kill percentage, three points).

* Marty James is a freelance writer who makes his home in Napa. He retired on June 4, 2019 after spending 40 years as a sports writer, sports editor and executive sports editor for the Napa Valley Register, a daily newspaper in Napa County. He is a 1979 graduate of Sacramento State and a member of the California Golf Writers & Broadcasters Association. He was inducted into the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Hall of Fame in 2016, the Vintage High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2019, and the Napa High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2022.