You often do not appreciate what you see in person until you reflect a handful of years later. For St. Helena High (St. Helena, CA) sports fans, the late 2000s to early 2010s were a special time for female athletics -- specifically volleyball and girls basketball.
The reasons for the significance of their achievements are different. For volleyball, the Saints have a rich history from Donna McCornack to Ouvidio Gomes to Herschel Sandler to Benny Rabanal. McCornack is a member of the first class of the St. Helena High Athletic Hall of Fame, established in 2013 -- and for good reason.
She coached St. Helena volleyball to two CIF State championships (1982 and 1984), seven league titles, five section championships and two more state runner-ups. McCornack retired after 39 years of teaching at St. Helena High after the 2010-2011 school year. McCornack’s impact, however, goes far beyond the fact that she led St. Helena volleyball to a 252-55 overall record in her 17 seasons.
Besides her successful coaching career, McCornack was instrumental in leading the charge for equality in girls’ sports. She fought vigorously for the inclusion of all-girls teams in the North Central League I.
Besides various brief spikes thereafter, most Saints volleyball seasons with the exception of 1994 and 2003 were very similar -- reach the postseason and possibly win a league title followed by winning a postseason game as a mid-level bracket seed only to lose to a high-end seed thereafter.
For girls basketball, with the exception the mid 1990s under Gomes and Frank Bozzini as co-coaches, St. Helena was mostly terrible until 2007 when St. Helena High 1977 graduate Will Densberger returned to his hometown by way of Oregon.
To set the stage, Adrianna “Missy” Particelli, Maddy Densberger, Jamie Marshall and Shelby Zumwalt each made significant impacts for the Saints at both sports. Densberger scored over 1,500 career points in basketball and over 1,000 career kills in volleyball before going on to have an accomplished volleyball career at Sonoma State. I could do a Time Machine post on Densberger alone, which may come at some point for now we focus on the team’s achievements. Particelli played for Pacific Union College and Marshall briefly at UC Santa Cruz.
The volleyball team enjoyed supporting cast contributions from Sydney Jacobs, Mia Barnett, Jenn Strunk, Kendall Shifflett, Diane Meyer and Callie Flood. In 2008, the Saints went 19-13 and as the No. 9 seed in the CIF North Coast Section Div. IV playoffs beat No. 8 Kelseyville in four sets before losing to top-seed and eventual champion Marin Catholic.
The next two seasons, the Saints ran roughshod over competition. In 2009, St. Helena went 27-6 and as the No. 6 seed beat No. 11 Kelseyville and No. 3 St. Patrick’s (Vallejo) at home before losing to No. 2 seeded Salesian (Richmond) on the road. Salesian beat Marin Catholic for the NCS Div. IV title.
The 2010 season, however, was truly a crowning jewel as they went 29-5, reaching the NorCal playoffs for the first time since 2003. In the NCS Div. IV playoffs as the No. 7 seed, the Saints beat No. 10 Healdsburg, No. 2 Berean Christian (Walnut Creek), and No. 3 Salesian before falling to Marin Catholic in the finals. However, by virtue of reaching the section championship match, the Saints earned a spot in the NorCal tournament. St. Helena would shock the world by beating top-seeded Ripon before losing to Notre Dame (Belmont).
The basketball team’s supporting cast contributions came from Kate Wignall, Holle DePina, Noemi Sanchez, and Zumwalt to go along with the lead efforts of Densberger, Marshall and Particelli. From 2007-2011, the Saints amassed a 76-34 with three NCS Div. IV playoff appearances despite not having a player to speak of that called basketball her No. 1 sport. While the postseason victory eluded the Saints (losing to St. Pat’s, Ursuline and Marin Catholic), they established a legacy in school history that will long be remembered.
In 2007-2008, the Saints went 14-14 for their first non-losing season since 1997-1998, which was a significant improvement over the 8-18 season the year prior, which was Ron Menegon’s last after eight seasons as head coach before giving way to Will Densberger the following year.
If I had to point to a game that represented a moment that a new day had donned, it was a 49-46 loss to eventual North Central League I champion Cloverdale, which needed a Lorraine Villa 3-pointer with 7.5 seconds remaining to subdue St. Helena. Though I would never use the term moral victory, this game was a turning point because the Eagles had beaten St. Helena like a rug in several years prior.
The following two seasons would bring back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time since 1995-1996 and 1996-1997. The 2008-2009 Saints went 23-3, recording 21 wins in a row, which established a school-record to win their first league title in school history. The Saints went 21-8 in 2009-2010 and 18-9 in 2010-2011.
I could fill enough space for a novel in rattling off the team and individual accomplishments. As reporters, we are told to be impartial but covering sports at the high school level is different. You can’t cover the St. Helena Saints like you cover the New Orleans Saints.
I strived to report on bad teams with sensitivity but don’t unprofessionally gush over the very good teams. However, when you see a team work diligently to achieve so much, you can’t help but celebrate their success.
What I enjoyed most about covering these teams, and this is part of doing it in a small town of under 6,000 people, was getting to know their families. Though I have changed careers and my life takes me to Contra Costa County rather than the Northern part of Napa Valley, I still have semi-regular contact with the Rabanal, Particelli, Densberger and Marshall families.
Upvalley sports historian and 1962 St. Helena High graduate Jim Hunt was instrumental in establishing the St. Helena High Athletic Hall of Fame. I have no doubt Maddy Densberger will there if not possibly a couple other aforementioned Saints.
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