Prep roundup: St. Ignatius, Palo Alto advance to NorCal boys golf; NCS boys volleyball championships set

Two Bay Area boys golf teams are moving on to the CIF Northern California regional championships. 

The Central Coast Section boys golf championship was contested on Tuesday at Laguna Seca Golf Ranch in Monterey, and two local squads performed well enough to secure a spot in the regionals. 

Pebble Beach-based Stevenson took the top spot with a team score of 351, but right behind them were Palo Alto (364) and St. Ignatius (367). By virtue of their top-three finishes, the two Peninsula schools qualified for NorCals as a team.

The next four individuals not on a qualifying team also secured a spot in the regionals, and that foursome included three Bay Area golfers. They were Serra’s Kyler Heath (68, tied for second place overall); Los Altos’ Jack Wang (70, T-7) and Gunn’s Rithvik Jayaraman (70, T-7).

The individuals making it through thanks to their team finishes are SI’s Jayden Jew (66, 1st) and Dylan Wickum (70, T-7); Palo Alto’s Brian Yu (71, T-12), Joshua Wang (71), Justun Kim (71), Brendan O’Keefe (74, T-25) and Ryan Chang (77, T-40); SI’s Karl Besinga (77), Daniel Doan (77), Alexander Kapulica (77) and Ben Thomson (80, T-56); and Paly’s Grady McCarter (84, T-62).

The NorCal regionals will be held on May 27 at Berkeley Country Club in El Cerrito.

NCS DIVISION II CHAMPIONSHIP

The North Coast Section hosted its Division II championships on Monday at Foxtail Golf Club North in Rohnert Park, and while no East Bay schools finished among the top three teams, a group of individual golfers punched their tickets to the Division I championships next Monday, where they will have a chance to qualify for a spot in NorCals.

Will Chang of College Prep (69, 1st); Archer Eames of Miramonte (74, T-3); Chris Chang of College Prep (74), Carson Limpus of Berean Christian (74), David Navarro of El Cerrito (74), Aditya Das of Dublin (75), Cindy Yuan of Athenian (77), Austin Wang of Athenian (78) and Shamaak Goyal of Monte Vista (78) all finished among the top 18 players and earned berths in the Division I championship round. 

The Division II qualifiers and the qualified Division I golfers will tee it up for a shot at NorCals at Rancho Solano Golf Course in Fairfield on May 19. 

Boys volleyball

NCS SEMIFINALS

Division I 

No. 1 Northgate 3, No. 5 De La Salle 0

Can anyone stop Northgate in the D-I bracket? No one’s had any luck thus far. The top seed Broncos have not dropped a set and haven’t been in serious jeopardy of doing so, except for one 25-23 set win over Liberty in the quarterfinals. They beat De La Salle 25-15, 25-20, 25-17 on Tuesday.

No. 3 Amador Valley 3, No. 15 Las Lomas 0

The Dons ended Las Lomas’ Cinderella run to the semis with a came to a 25-19, 25-17, 25-18 victory. Amador Valley has only dropped one set so far in the tournament and might have what it takes to give Northgate a good matchup. The final is Thursday at Northgate. 

Division II 

No. 5 Redwood 3, No. 16 Irvington 2

Irvington’s charmed upset run in the D-II bracket met a hard-fought finish in the North Bay as Redwood advanced with a 25-14, 20-25, 25-16, 21-25, 15-9 victory. Redwood will visit second-seeded International-San Francisco in the final on Thursday. Redwood beat No. 14 American Canyon 0 25-22, 25-20, 25-20 in the semifinals.

Division III

No. 5 Albany 3, No. 1 Encinal 2 (18-25, 25-20, 25-17, 26-28, 15-13)

A thriller in Alameda came down to the final point. The visitors from Albany dropped the first set, rallied to go up 2-1, then dropped the fourth set in extra points. Didn’t matter. The Cougars rallied to win 18-25, 25-20, 25-17, 26-28, 15-13 and will host the D-III title game on Thursday. 

No. 6 Washington-Fremont 3, No. 2 St. Joseph-Notre Dame 1

Washington took care of business in Alameda 22-25, 25-14, 25-20, 25-16 to earn a trip to the championship match. Despite dropping the opening set, the Huskies were firmly in control the rest of the way.

Division IV

No. 12 Benicia 3, No. 9 Quarry Lane 0

The only double-digit seed to make a championship game in the NCS, Benicia did so in style with a 25-23, 25-20, 25-22 win over Quarry Lane. After getting past No. 5 Windsor 3-2 in the opening round, the Panthers have not dropped a set since.

No. 2 Berean Christian 3, No. 6 Alhambra 2

Berean Christian, meanwhile, had to gut out a tough 6-25, 25-23, 25-21, 22-25, 15-10 win over a feisty Alhambra bunch. They will now host Benicia on Thursday night in Walnut Creek. 

Baseball

EBAL SEMIFINALS

No. 4 Granada 6, San Ramon Valley 0

No. 1 De La Salle 6, No. 6 Foothill 0 

Two identical shutout wins in the East Bay Athletic League semifinals set the stage for a highly anticipated rematch between two of the best teams in the Bay Area. 

De La Salle (22-3) has lost just three games all season, the second of which was a 6-2 defeat to Granada at home in Concord on March 13. The Spartans have not lost since dropping a 3-2 decision to Whitney-Rocklin on April 15 at the Boras Classic. 

Granada (20-5) is the defending EBAL, NCS and NorCal champion, but the Matadors have not been nearly as dominant as in their 32-1 dream season last year. Still, the Mats are set up to make some more history, starting at 4 p.m. on Thursday in Livermore. 

The two teams had a legendary postseason battle last season in the NCS title game, stretching across two days, multiple facilities and 14 innings. Granada ultimately won that contest 1-0.

What will this one have in store? We’ll find out Thursday at Granada.