Sports Briefs: Redwood tennis absorbs narrow loss in NorCal semis

Redwood High’s stellar season on the courts took the Giants to within a hair’s breadth of a title shot at the CIF Northern California Girls Tennis Championships. The Giants earned a solid victory in Tuesday’s opening round, before coming up just short against Los Altos, 4-3, in the semifinals later in the day in Folsom.

Jordan Marotto and Julia Povio won their singles matches, and the Giants swept doubles play as Redwood beat Granite Bay, 5-2, in Tuesday’s opening round of the NorCal championships. Marotto won 6-3, 6-0 at No. 1 singles and Povio won her match at No. 2 handily, 6-1, 6-0.

Ella Povio and Julia Laury won 6-2, 6-2 at No. 1 doubles, while Gwenn Ricordel and Alessia Bailliet won 6-1, 6-2 at No. 2 doubles. Redwood’s No. 3 pair of Livia Klompas and Molly Gallagher scored a 6-3, 6-3 victory.

Redwood’s strong doubles play helped the Giants put the pressure on Los Altos in the semifinal matchup. The teams of Ella Povio-Laury, and Marotto-Bailliet both picked up wins.

Los Altos, which beat Washington of San Francisco, 7-0, in the first round, is scheduled to play Menlo for the pennant on Wednesday. Menlo was perfect in a pair of sweeps against Davis and Dublin to reach the finals.

The NorCal championships, originally scheduled for the week of November 19, were delayed by a series of intense rain storms.

Prep football

The North Coast Section 8-person football champions from the Branson School brought home more honors this week as the the all-league honors were released.

The Bulls’ Tom Lardner, Colby Buxton, senior Julian Barnes and senior Mo Jacoby were named to the All-North Coast League II team, and senior Jack Castonguay earned an honorable mention. Branson finished second to Stuart Hall in the NCL II regular season, but the Bulls beat the Knights 40-24 in the NCS 8-person Division I championship on November 23.

In his senior campaign at quarterback, Lardner had 32 touchdowns and threw for 1,834 yards and led the Bulls with 2,144 yards. In a breakout season, sophomore running back Buxton rushed for 806 yards on his way to 1,2386 all purpose yards and 17 touchdowns. Jacoby was an impact player on both sides of the ball, with 10 touchdowns, 37 receptions for 594 yards and 70 tackles. Barnes led the Bulls defense with seven sacks and 11 tackles for loss.

The Bulls (8-2) finished the season ranked third in the state with their third NCS title in four years.

Girls soccer

Julia Myerberg scored twice and added an assist as Branson (2-0-0) rolled to a 5-0 road win against Lick-Wilmerding on Tuesday. Myerberg did all her damage in the first half, scoring in the sixth minute on an assist from Catrin Howell, assisting a goal by Riley Pearson in the 25th minute, then scoring off a pass from Anya Sridharan in the 37th. Ally Hsieh and Giselle Hernandez added second-half goals, on assists from Whitney Collet and Luna Diaz, respectively.

• Tam rallied with three goals in the second half to win its season opener, 3-1 against Cardinal Newman on Tuesday. Lauren Willard tied the game at 1-1, scoring on an assist from sophomore Allegra Andreoli, who was making her varsity debut. Tam (1-0-0) went in front on a goal by Ava McMahon, assisted by Addie Covey. McMahon added an insurance goal following a corner kick taken by Willard. Tam is the defending North Coast Section Division II champion while Cardinal Newman was the D-III runner up.

• Kiera Plunkett, Leila Olson and Abby Silver found the back of the net as San Domenico (1-0-0) opened the season with a 3-2 win against Drew on Tuesday.

• Jaela Brown scored four times to lead San Rafael to a 6-0 rout of San Lorenzo on Tuesday. Darby Fones and Ryder Higgins Jones also scored for the Bulldogs (2-0-0). Arlin Guzman had four assists and Joselin Romero also had an assist.

• Alina Franchetti scored the only goal of the game as Marin Catholic opened the season with a 1-0 win against International on Monday. Sloane Carey provided the assist for MC (1-0-0).

Boys soccer

Tam (0-0-1) kicked off the season with a 0-0 road draw against Casa Grande on Monday night. The Red-tailed Hawks travel to face Terra Linda in a non-league match on Wednesday.

Boys basketball

Gavin Early’s double-double helped carry San Domenico past International, 75-50, on Tuesday. Early tallied 24 points and 19 rebounds for the Panthers, who led by 12 points at halftime. Chidera Onyeukwu was a force down low with 17 points and nine rebounds, while Irakli Jokhadze chipped in 13 points and five assists. The Panthers (2-1) host Tam on Thursday at 6:30 p.m.

• Harrison Barley scored a team-high 16 points to lead St. Vincent to a 67-19 win over Victory Christian on Tuesday. Anton Rocco and Dylan Chelew scored 14 points each for the Mustangs (3-0).

Girls basketball

San Rafael picked up its first win of the season Tuesday night, beating Richmond High School 42-21. Aly Seater had 10 points to lead San Rafael (1-3). Rosalyn Mazariegos added eight points and Estefani Pantojas dropped in seven points for the Bulldogs.

• Brooke Denler and Maya Saibel each scored 14 points as Redwood beat Maria Carrillo, 57-43, on Tuesday. The Giants (2-1) led by six points at halftime before tightening the defense to go on a 11-6 run in the third quarter and seal the game.