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StaffReport CHICO The Red Bluff Spartans girls tennis team beat the Pleas- ant Valley Vikings on Tuesday 6-1 on the road to remain undefeated for the season. "Despite the distractions of homecoming activities we man- aged to beat the Vikings for the second time," said coach Dennis Poulton. Maggie Winning took her match in three sets over Nicole Flint 6-4, 1-6, 6-0. "Big win for Winning at court 1," Poulton said. "Maggie had never beaten Flint and had a tough 2 match the last time they met. Two great competitors going at it." Cleo DuFrain beat Abbey Gas- saway 6-3, 6-0, Megan Boone beat Shwangi Patel 6-1, 6-1 and Rylee DuFrain beat Daisy Farris 6-3, 6-1 to round out singles play. "Singles players Cleo DuFrain, Megan Boone and Rylee DuFrain showed up big today," Poulton said. "Really needed them and they came through as doubles teams at 1 and 2 had their hands full." Joelle Alexander and Lindsay Harrison won 7-5, 6-4 in doubles play, and Ellie Christenson and Angela Ferrell won 6-1, 6-1. "Joelle Alexander and Lindsay Harrison won a tough match at court 2 and Ellie Christenson and Angela Ferrell won easily at court 3," Poulton said. Red Bluff's only loss would be in the No. 1 doubles match, which Andrea Brown and Taylor Bell lost in three sets to Krishna Patel and Anna Brodesser 4-66, 6-0, 6-3. The Spartans are scheduled to host the Shasta Wolves at 3:30 p.m. today. TENNIS Spartans defeat PV to remain unbeaten REDBLUFF6,PLEASANTVAL.1 Up next:ShastaatRedBluff, 3:30p.m. today. THESCORE Sunday: Oakland Raiders at Balti- more Ravens, 10a.m., TV on CBS. TUNEIN JAMES KENNEY — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Oakland Raiders wide receiver Michael Crabtree loses his helmet a er catching a pass against Tennessee on Sunday. By Courtney Cronin and Jimmy Durkin Bay Area News Group ALAMEDA The Oakland Raid- ers' passing offense struggled to generate much through the air against Tennessee, and it wasn't just because of the Titans' im- proved defense. Often times in Oakland's 17- 10 Week 3 win, Raiders receivers were the source of their own slip ups, totaling five dropped passes from Derek Carr: two for Amari Cooper, two for Seth Roberts and one for Clive Walford. On a day where the offense stalled on drives and was shut out in the second half, Michael Crabtree proved to be the Raiders' most consistent outside threat. The veteran wideout hauled in a game-high eight receptions for 102 yards, with six of his catches resulting in first downs. On the season, 15 of his 19 catches have moved the chains. It was the ninth time in his ca- reer in which he notched 100 or more yards receiving, going up RAIDERS Crabtree has become most outstanding outside threat By Josh Dubow The Associated Press SANTA CLARA NFL quarter- backs talk about the importance of staying on schedule, making at least small gains on first and second down in order to avoid those treacherous third-and- long situations. That's what made San Fran- cisco's struggles on offense last week in Seattle so frustrating. The Niners frequently got them- selves into makeable situations on third downs only to come up empty. San Francisco (1-2) failed to convert on its first 10 third downs, before getting a few late ones in a 37-18 loss to the Se- ahawks. "If you had told me going into that game we'd be in third manageable the majority of the game, probably 90 percent of our third downs, I'd probably take the bet that we'd convert a good number of those," quar- terback Blaine Gabbert said Wednesday. "We didn't. That was the story of that game." Gabbert was off target on some third-down throws and there was miscommunication with receivers on others. But on four of them, Gabbert man- aged to complete a pass only to have the play end up short of the markers. Gabbert completed a 4-yard pass on third-and-7, a pair of 2-yarders when the team needed 4 yards for a first down and a 13- yard pass on third-and-17. "Not every third down that's converted is converted with a ball that's thrown past the sticks," offensive coordinator Curtis Modkins said. "So, some- times what they give you is an underneath throw and you catch and run. So, there are a lot of dif- ferent ways that you get a first down throwing the ball and it's not always that the route has to be past the sticks." Getting rid of the ball quickly has benefited the Niners in one area. The team is tied for the league lead with only two sacks NFL Th ir d- do wn w oe s hu rt G ab be rt , 49 er s Quarterbackrankslastinleagueinyardsper attempt, 2nd worst in completion percentage MARCIO JOSE SANCHEZ — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE San Francisco 49ers quarterback Blaine Gabbert (2) has struggled to get the ball downfield this season, especially on third downs. Sunday: Dallas Cowboys at San Francisco 49ers, 1:25p.m., TV on FOX. TUNEIN By Chip Thompson editor@redbluffdailynews.com @editorchip on Twitter RED BLUFF The Red Bluff Lady Spartans, Corning Lady Car- dinals and Los Molinos Lady Bulldogs all took wins Tuesday night in the opening of volley- ball league play, while the Mercy Lady Warriors lost. The Spartans won in four sets at home over the Shasta Wolves, 25-22, 25-14, 21-25 and 28-26. The Cardinals took five sets to get past the Las Plumas Thunderbirds in Oroville and the Bulldogs beat out the Lib- erty Christian Patriots in four sets, 25-20, 25-15, 23-25 and 25- 15. The Warriors fell in four sets to the Redding Christian Lions, 21-25, 25-17, 25-15 and 25-15. Freshman Sarah Reineman was named player of the match for Red Bluff, with two kills, three aces, two blocks, three digs and 18 assists. "Sarah and Tyler (Ellen- berger) did a great job work- ing our middle offense to throw off the block, and that is what helped us appear more aggres- sive at the net," said coach Kelli Mustaine. Other top performers were Logan Wheeler with 10 kills, three aces, four blocks and 10 digs; Kennedy Somavia with four kills, an ace, three blocks and four digs; Aurora Carnes with four kills, eight blocks and two digs; and sophomore Ca- rissa Twitchell with four kills, six blocks and two digs. Kylee Kitchell had three kills, two aces, a block and 17 digs; El- lenberger had four digs and 10 assists; and Ashley Tignore had 11 digs and Emily Tatro had a kill, an ace and five blocks. The Spartans (12-5 overall, 1-0 league) are scheduled to face the Enterprise Hornets (11-11 over- all, 0-1 league) at 7 tonight in Redding. OROVILLE The Corning Cardi- nals beat the Las Plumas Thun- derbirds to open league play with a road win Tuesday night, 3-2. As of 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, no stats had been posted for the match. The Cardinals (10-8 overall, 1-0 league) are scheduled to host the Paradise Bobcats (13-6 overall, 1-0 league) at 6:30 to- night. REDDING Kami Vandoren was named player of the match in the Bulldogs' 3-1 win over the Liberty Christian Patriots on the road Tuesday to start league play. Vandoren had two kills, three digs and an assist. Other standouts for the Bull- dogs were Rachel Rogers with 17 kills, an ace, three blocks and 10 digs; Liset Castillo with 12 kills, six aces, 14 digs and an assist; Henna Acevedo with seven kills, an ace, two blocks and 12 digs. Kendall Williams had 16 as- sists and two digs and Heather Rodriguez had 10 assists. Gene- sis Acevedo had three kills and two blocks. The Bulldogs (18-9 overall, 1-0 league) are scheduled to visit Red Bluff today for a 6:15 p.m. match against the Mercy War- riors (5-10 overall, 0-1 league). RED BLUFF Hailey Coelho was named player of the match for the Warriors, with two kills, two aces and seven digs. Other top performers were Al- lie Adams with four kills, three aces, a block and nine digs; freshman Eva Flynn with four kills, a block, five digs and five assists; Sophia Rubright with three kills, two aces, a block and seven digs; Crystal Pimen- tel with two kills, an ace, four digs and six assists; and Annie Feser with two kills, two blocks and seven digs. The Warriors (5-10 overall, 0-1 league) are scheduled to host the Los Molinos Bulldogs (18-9 over- all, 1-0 league) at 6:15 tonight. VOLLEYBALL Areateamsstartoff leaguewithvictories Spartans, Cardinals, Bulldogs off to a good start in respective leagues LARRY LONG — CONTRIBUTED Los Molinos' Rachel Rogers puts a shot over Liberty Christian's Ellie Bennett and Klaire Bradley on Tuesday in Redding. 49ERS PAGE 4 RAIDERS PAGE 4 SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Thursday, September 29, 2016 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1