Sports briefs: Branson tops Piedmont, advances to tennis final

Anna Rende pulled out a three-set win at No. 1 singles to secure the decisive victory as the Branson School girls tennis team advanced to the North Coast Section Division II finals on Saturday.

The No. 2-seeded Bulls got past No. 3 Piedmont 4-3 in the semifinals, with Rende rallying for a 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 victory atop the singles ladder.

Branson moves on to face top-seeded University High of San Francisco, which defeated No. 5 Marin Academy 5-2 in the other semifinal. The final is scheduled to take place on Thursday but the time and location are to be determined.

Branson coach Christine Costamagna rolled out her best singles lineup and it paid off as the Bulls swept the four singles matches. Piedmont opted to use its third and fourth players in the No. 1 doubles match.

Mirabel Arlander, Audrey Gilmor and Katie Warrin were all victorious in straight sets at Nos. 2-4 singles, respectively, for Branson.

• Redwood’s run as the top seed in Division I came to an end with a 5-2 loss against No. 5 Miramonte in the semifinals on Saturday. No. 7 Amador Valley went on to claim the title.

Girls volleyball

Top-seeded Archie Williams marched into the NorCal Division III championship game following a 25-21, 25-20, 25-15 win against Menlo Atherton Saturday night. The top-seeded Peregrine Falcons (19-6) are set to host No. 3 Mercy at 6 p.m. on Tuesday night.

Elsa Snipes led the way for Archie Williams with 12 kills, nine digs and three aces. Lindsey Jones had 10 kills and three digs. Setter Reese Fraser had 23 assists, five digs, two blocks and a pair of aces. Archie Williams also got 17 digs from Phoebe Galland plus nine digs and four aces from Lauren Barnwell.

• Wesley Slavin had 30 assists, 14 digs, three kills and three aces as Tam’s NorCal playoff run came to an end in a three-set loss at top-seeded Clovis North Saturday night.
  Tam has made it to at least the NorCal semifinals in every postseason since 2019, making it to the D-IV title game in 2019, the D-IV semifinals in 2021 and the D-II semifinals this season.
  Natalia Clifford had 12 kills and 26 digs for the Red-tailed Hawks (30-10), who set a program-record for victories this season. Malia Parsons also had 26 digs. Katherine Moriarty added 10 digs and six kills. Lauren Widdifield had six kills and four digs. Sachi Houser had two kills, two blocks and two digs while Zoe Lyko added five kills.

• No. 8 Marin Catholic and No. 5 Branson met in the North Coast Section D-II semifinals in a late start at College of Marin Saturday night. For the full story, see marinij.com and Monday’s print edition.

Men’s basketball

Garrett Siebels scored a team-high 21 points to lead Dominican University to an 82-76 victory in its season opener against Sonoma State on Saturday.

Marcus McCutchen added 19 points and PJ Volz added 16 for the Penguins (1-0). Dominican battled through a back-and-forth second half, taking the lead for good on a 3-pointer by McCutchen that made it 60-59 with just over 7 minutes left.

• College of Marin picked up a 69-56 win against Folsom Lake on Saturday to snap a three-game losing streak. No further details were available at press time.

Women’s basketball

Brittney Cedeno scored a team-high 19 points on Friday night as Dominican University opened its season with a 65-55 loss to Sonoma State.

Cedeno was the lone Penguin in double digits scoring and also tied for team-high honors with seven rebounds. Jenna Duley added nine points. Keyonee Neal scored six, making 2 of 4 3-pointers on a night where the Penguins (0-1) went 3 of 21 as a team.

• Isobel Crosswhite and Aulani Leomitti scored 21 points apiece as College of Marin won the second of its games as the host of the Don Barksdale Tournament, 67-34 against Gavlian on Saturday.
  Leomitti hit five of the Mariner’s six makes from three-point range and Crosswhite added a team-high 11 rebounds.
  COM (3-2) defeated Ohlone 53-47 in Friday’s tournament game and have now won three consecutive games.