Prep roundup: Westmont water polo, Heritage volleyball, Lincoln flag football among Bay Area’s winners
GIRLS WATER POLO
Sequoia 16, Hillsdale 13
Sequoia’s Hannah McDonald was on an absolute heater Tuesday night, scoring a whopping nine goals in the Ravens’ victory. She also had help from teammates Ashley Daden and Callie Hogreffe, who scored three goals each. Natalie Martinez scored one goal for the the winners.
Hillsdale put up a fight, with Samantha Lin pacing the team with four goals, Mia Veis scoring three goals, Kaitlin Graetz putting two past the keeper and Camryn Gutierrez scoring one goal. Goalkeeper Paige Floro had 15 saves.
Mission San Jose 5, Alhambra 2
Kira Clark scored three goals and Ozzy Lim scored two goals as the Warriors pushed past Alhambra. Izzy Cooley and Chiara Ke scored each of Alhambra’s goals.
Alhambra coach Frank Reichert said the goalkeepers were the stars on Monday. Mission San Jose’s Marissa White had 16 saves, and Alhambra keeper Zoe Jimenez saved seven shots and had two steals. Sharvi Verma and Audrey Lau each had multiple steals and made scoring difficult for Alhambra’s attackers.
Westmont 15, Evergreen Valley 6
Marisol Bucci put five goals into the net in Westmont’s dominant victory over Evergreen Valley. Liana Patel also scored four goals for the Campbell school. Sofia Chappers, Amanda Tran and Maya Bourne each scored two goals for Westmont, which has now won three consecutive games.
Athlete of the Week candidate Amanda Gutierrez had nine saves and six steals for Evergreen Valley, and Nicole Duong and Ava Villarreal each had three goals.
College Park 6, Irvington 4
Lauryn Bergin saved seven shots against Irvington as College Park got just enough offense from its attackers to slip away with the victory. Lucy Galbraith had three goals, with one being a five-meter shot with five seconds left in the game.
Prospect 12, Sobrato 7
Prospect coach Si Gutierrez called Liliana Levin “remarkable” after she converted on seven of her eight shots to pace the Panthers. Stacia Levin and Madelyn Marquez each scored two goals, and Maggie McCormick scored one goal. Goalkeeper Emilia Marquez saved over 40 percent of her shots against Sobrato.
Mountain View 12, Milpitas 1
Elsa Williams paced a strong Mountain View squad on Tuesday night, getting three past the goalkeeper in the Spartans’14th victory of the season. Head coach Julie Williams said the team also got strong performances by goalie Sofia Vincent and freshman Karina Conover Hui.
Foothill 9, Clayton Valley Charter 3
Foothill got contributions from a variety of players in a victory against CVC in Pleasanton. Natalie Williams, Makayla Rausher, Addison Southern, Emily Tsao and Mikayla Esguerra all scored goals for the Falcons.
Foothill coach Mark Williams said Dayna Mesuda, Camryn Hobizol, Sarah Taylor and Sarah Overton combined for 21 shots, and that defenders Natalie Piergrossi and Lindsey Lacatelli had a strong defensive game. Goalkeeper Jillian Barth had seven saves.
Nevaeh Minglana, Bella Jimenez and Tori Malsom all scored goals for CVC. Ugly Eagles coach Ernesto Minglana said goalkeeper Maya Canada “was a blocking machine” and had eight saves while only playing one half of the game.
BOYS WATER POLO
Heritage 11, Liberty 10
Ashton Culpepper’s six goals and two assists helped spoil Liberty’s senior night and clinched the top seed in the Bay Valley Athletic League tournament. Tony Trapanese and Travis Kralj each added two goals for Heritage. On Liberty’s side, Jace Cleghorn scored six goals and Parker Stanaland, Seth Venables and Luke Gunderman all scored one goal. GK Jack Lorenz had nine saves.
Piedmont 15, Bishop O’Dowd 10
Piedmont senior Declan Linnane had himself quite a game on Tuesday night, putting six goals past the keeper. George Stein and Finn Burke were also fantastic, with each scoring three goals apiece.. Daniel Banin had three steals.
On the Bishop O’Dowd side, Hunter Morgan had four goals, two assists, four steals and three ejections drawn. Senior Marc Suarez scored three goals and had an assist, and Matt Dominguez had two goals. Junior Zac Bezenek chipped in with one goal, one assist and one field block.
Woodside 8, Menlo-Atherton 4
Jos Hohl scored three goals to lead Woodsdie to victory against its Atherton opponent. Webster Antonchuk scored two goals, and Quinn Watrous, Will Stevenson and Julian Hull each scored one goal. Woodside goalkeeper Max Mueller was phenomenal, saving 11 shots.
Homestead 10 Saratoga 3
Homestead celebrated senior night with style as Carter Beitel scored four goals, Pelleg Shani bagged three, Kyle Jackson scored two and Blake Tarkington got one past the keeper. Saratoga’s Jarrett Singh also scored.
Hillsdale 13, Sequoia 8
Hillsdale coach Bryan Bent said that star senior Josiah Yeager “spent the whole night fighting off double teams” to score five goals. Isaiah Yeager had three goals, Hudson Yates scored two, and Nathan Sprowls, Matthew Roser and Matthew Love each scored a goal. Goalkeeper Taner Heidenreich was one of four Hillsdale players to have two assists, and he also had four saves.
San Ramon Valley 12, Tamalpais 9
San Ramon Valley continued its break from East Bay Athletic League play by defeating Tamalpais by a comfortable margin. Grayson Konigsberg scored three goals, and Sawyer Jones and Evan Liberatore each scored twice. Goalkeeper Nick Tovani kept 10 shots out of the net for the Danville school.
Westmont 9, Evergreen Valley 4
After the Westmont girls routed Evergreen Valley, the boys team made it a sweep for the Campbell school. Ethan Bissell scored five goals, Giuseppe Cusmano had two goals, and Arthur Koeppen and Ryder Adams each popped in one goal.
Freedom 15, Deer Valley 4
Freedom’s Donnie Pearman saved 11 shots in the Falcons’ victory over its Bay Valley Athletic League opponent. Joe Greer had five goals, Adam Boccia and Brandon Criswell each scored three goals. Keegan Tryon scored two goals, and Julian Morales and Dominic Scott both scored one goal each for the Oakley school.
Palo Alto 9, Los Altos 8
Will Backstrand scored four goals, and Brian Stewart and Charleas Ryan popped in two goals each as Palo Alto won another close game in SCVAL play. Grant Jauregui had five steals, and Paul Schacht had 11 blocks.
Coach Seth Tasman’s Los Altos team got three goals and a steal by Tiernan Braun and two goals and two steals from Zach Brunner. Ferran De Witt had a goal and an assist, and Attiucs Seale and Misha Golovatyi each scored one goal. Weston Carballar had six saves as Los Altos’ goalkeeper.
Priory 10, Capuchino 3
Sophomore goalkeeper Leo Upson was a star in net for Priory, saving eight shots for the Portola Valley school. Tanner Burks led the team with five exclusion calls drawn. Matthew Genet, Nolan Murphy, Kenta Alten, Matthew Sun and Allen Wu all scored goals for the winning team.
Alameda 12, Berkeley 11
It took a while to decide a winner as Alameda slipped past Berkeley in triple overtime on Monday. Zach Dortch had five goals, six steals and four assists and senior Preston DeCourcy had three goals and six steals for Alameda. For Berkeley, Eamonn Kaufer scored four goals, Mateo Flores-Knapp and Manel Grossi had two goals each, and Beckett Sas and Torben Wihbiller each scored one. Keeper Nunzio Burley had 11 saves for Berkeley.
Berkeley 9, Castro Valley 5
It didn’t take long for Berkeley to rebound, cruising to a comfortable victory over Castro Valley on Tuesday. Eamonn Kaufer scored three goals, while Mateo Flores-Knapp, Beckett Sas and Torben Wihlbiller each scored two goals. Coach Brodin Jasper said the team had 15 saves.
Fremont-Sunnyvale 19, Mountain View 6
Even though Fremont routed Mountain View, the Spartans still had standouts in a losing effort. Tyler Pacheco had three goals and one assist, and Austin Conover Hustis, Felipe Kujawa and Leo Wall all scored goals. Dylan Correra Quinones, Eric Balch and Henry Speiser had one assist each.
GIRLS VOLLEYBALL
No. 3 Foothill 3, Amador Valley 0
Foothill ended its East Bay Athletic League season an unblemished 13-0 after it swept its Pleasanton rivals 25-22, 25-10, 25-19.
Katie Salonga had 37 assists and eight aces, and Paige Bennett had 16 kills, 11 digs and nine aces. Kaycie Burdick had 15 digs and 11 kills, and Lulu Hoenninger had four kills and two blocks.
No. 4 St. Ignatius 3, No. 6 Valley Christian 0
In a matchup of Top 10 teams in the Bay Area News Group rankings, St. Ignatius got the sweep on the San Francisco school’s senior day. Fittingly, fourth-year player Tara Hagan set up the offense all night, and SI coach Saga Vae said junior Carol Manu had “big kills” against Valley Christian.
No. 13 Menlo School 3, No. 5 Sacred Heart Prep 0
Menlo School stunned Sacred Heart Prep in a sweep that saw the Knight draw level with SHP in the WBAL standings at 5-1 with two games to play. Menlo senior outside Cleo Hardin had 17 kills while junior Lily Kautai distributed 34 assists . Sophomore libero Ava Wang had 16 digs and three aces.
“I think the energy was the difference. Our coaches have been talking about always striving for better, never settling,” Kautai said in a statement released by the school.
No. 12 Palo Alto 3, Los Gatos 2
In arguably the most exciting volleyball match of the night, Palo Alto squeaked by SCVAL De Anza rival Los Gatos 25-19, 25-19, 23-25, 18-25, 15-8 in a five-set slugfest that clinched the league for Palo Alto.
An ace from Mackenzie Zhao set up the match-ending kill from Noa Rochkind to give Palo Alto the victory. Paly coach Chris Crader said setter Sophie Miles ran the show for the Vikings, and that Kylie Yen and Maura Hambly both played well.
“It seemed like it might be tough to improve upon last year’s 17-15 overall record, and 3-9 league mark,” Crader said via email. “But with great senior leadership, a really strong junior class, and two terrific underclassmen, Palo Alto has had a remarkable turnaround campaign.”
Mia Halsey and Nicole Steiner led the attack, and libero Sarah Herman had a big part in helping Los Gatos rallying from down 0-2. Middles Portia Zeidler and Ally Black filled up the stat sheet with blocks.
“Even though we lost the tough battle in five, we are proud of what we were able to accomplish as a team and are ready to get back at it at practice tomorrow,” Los Gatos coach Nicole Ciari said.
Heritage 3, Freedom 1
Heritage defeated Freedom 25-19, 25-22, 21-25, 25-23 and vaulted into first place in the Bay Valley Athletic League. Camy De La Chevrotiere three aces, 12 assists, four digs and two blocks for Heritage, and Brenna Gleason had 12 kills, three assists, seven digs and three blocks. Maddy Whitaker had nine kills, and Hope Hess dished out four assists while also having 10 digs. Natalie LaBarge had seven kills and three blocks, and Chisom Okaforize had nine kills and two blocks.
Archbishop Riordan 3, Presentation 0
Crusader coach Bob Greene said the San Francisco school’s sweep was the program’s first-ever WCAL win at home. To make the night even more special, Riordan honored seniors Analee Rose Ronas, Scarlett Borges, Talia Bumanglag and Elizabeth Saavedra. Greene sadi “they are the first four Riordan girls volleyball players to go through the program for all four years of high school.”
Campolindo 3, Acalanes 0
Campolindo rebounded from a surprising loss to Benicia with a dominant 25-12, 25-16, 25-20 victory to improve to 10-1 in Diablo Athletic League play.
Senior co-captain Hanna Bjornson led the team with 22 attacks for 11 kills, and junior Gia Okulicz was superb as the libero, leading the team with 17 passes. Senior co-captain Rachel Andre had four aces.
Homestead 3, Fremont-Sunnyvale 0
Homestead fell behind 18-11 in its first set, but rallied to go on a 14-1 run as it downed its league rivals and went on to take the sweep. Emily Su had eight kills and Victoria Simpson had five kills to lead the team. Freshman setter Lilian Logan had 22 assists. Coach Daniel Neri said “We definitely need to work on those slow starts … With CCS qualifications around the corner, they’ll need to play at an even higher level to prolong their season.”
Mission San Jose 3, Moreau Catholic 0
MSJ coach Matthew Walker said Melissa Jin, Allyson Wong, Connie Li, Claribel Chen, Netra Shukla, and Allie Tong all starred in the team’s victory over Moreau Catholic. Walker added that “after inserted freshman middle blocker Netra Shukla to the starting line, our defense totally picked up and we were able to start control their two bigmiddle hitters.”
Hayward 3, Tennyson 0
Hayward’s 25-7, 25-11, 25-6 sweep over Tennyson kept the Farmers 11-0 in league play. Match scores were 25-7, 25-11, 25-6 . Hayward coach Alisa Parsons said Evalynn Jimenez “showed her versatility stepping to the right side and setting half of game one and two.” Sophomore Kailee Dela Cruz had five aces, and Emi Licea had eight aces to go along with six kills.
Prospect 3, Del Mar 0
Prospect’s senior captain Fergie Saxe had nine kills as the Panthers swept Del Mar 25-12, 25-23, 25-15. The victory snapped Prospect’s three-match losing streak. Teammate Sydney Slezak had three blocks too. Up next for Prospect is a senior night game against Leland on Wednesday.
St. Patrick-St. Vincent 3, Albany 2
SPSV and Albany alternated sets as the Vallejo school eventually came out on top in the Tri-County Athletic League semifinals by a score of 25-22, 22-25, 25-16, 18-25, 15-11. SPSV’s Cierra Ray had 21 kills, eight digs and 2 blocks while Dior Duru had 17 kills and six blocks.
Olivia Butcher chipped in eight kills, eight digs and five aces for SPSV, Danica Pagtakhan had a whopping 36 assists and four aces, and Himani Bakshi had 24 digs and two aces. SPSV coach Sal Paja said “Always a fight between SPSV and Albany. SPSV players really dug deep to come out on top.”
Salesian 3, Swett 0
Salesian is set to play St. Patrick-St. Vincent in the TCAL championship after sweeping its semifinal opponent. Salesian head coach Michaela Ahlenslager said “the whole team played really well,” and pointed out Yameerah Godfrey, Dayra Fernandez and Emery Benavides as the team’s best players that night. The coach also said setter Ela Lucas “worked hard running our offense tonight (to) lead us to victory.”
GIRLS FLAG FOOTBALL
Lincoln-San Jose 19, Andrew Hill 7
Lincoln junior Cece Giguere scored a touchdown and had a sack on Tuesday night, adding to her gaudy season totals. Giguere has 20 total TDs and 19 sacks. Teammate Gianna Couch had two interceptions, and four catches for 100 yards and one TD.
Sophomore QB Madison Rudd also threw another TD to Laia Williams. True Henley threw a touchdown for Lincoln, and senior defender Sheyla Aguirre had an interception.
Andrew Hill’s defense was solid in the loss. Yesenia Fonseca had two interceptions, and Jazmine Turcios picked off three passes. Turcios also thew a 60-yard TD pass to Yjana Pugh.
California 31, Amador Valley 0
Senior Quarterback Kylie Tabor threw three touchdown passes and senior Audrey Fitzgerald passed for one more touchdown as Cal High routed Amador Valley. Mary Dilling, Nadia Sherman, Olivia Young and Keilani Kervin each caught one touchdown for the San Ramon school. Lauren Grgurina capped the scoring with a rushing touchdown.
Pioneer 48, James Lick 0
Pioneer had a pick-six party against James Lick. Abbie Mackintosh had two interceptions, one returned for a touchdown in Pioneer’s defensively dominant rout. Mackintosh also threw for a TD. Jessica Tonegato returned one interception for a touchdown too.
Sara Maccioni had two interceptions, one returned for a touchdown. Tina Shaheen played great defense with one interception ran back for a touchdown. Audery Osborn had one interception and one sack.
Offensively, Julia Cannon starred with a touchdown catch, and Hailey Martinez also had a 35-yard catch. Elizabeth Phinney thew for a TD and caught another TD. Pioneer improved to 7-3.
Foothill 42, Granada 20
Foothill 20, Monte Vista 0
Melissa McMillin carved up Granada’s defense on Tuesday night, passing for six touchdowns in the victory. Top receiver Olivia Walinski caught four of those TDs, and Claire Young and Address Cortez each hauled in one TD. The defense made enough plays to keep Granada at bay, and Jessie Gadd led the charge with two interceptions.
In the second game against Monte Vista, McMillin threw three touchdowns, Walinski, Young and Gadd each catching one TD. Gigi Guerrero caught two 2-point conversion passes fo the Pleasanton school.
St. Ignatius 7, Campolindo 6
Milania Frias was the hero for St. Ignatius, running for the game-winning touchdown against the Moraga school. She wasn’t the only star though, as Ava Murphy broke up Campo’s last-second pass in the end zone to seal the victory.
Campo’s Isabelle Maher completeted 10 of 22 passes, one of those a touchdown to Lane Massa. Grace Allen also caught three balls for 30 yards, and Massa chipped five flag pulls on the defensive side of the ball.