After placing seventh at the prestigious California Tennis Classic in Fresno, three-time defending Central Coast Section champion Monta Vista captured a pair of wins last week.
The Matadors, who went 2-2 at the CTC in the scorching Central Valley heat Sept. 5-6, defeated St. Francis 4-3 in a non-league match on Sept. 9 and scored a 6-1 victory over Homestead two days later in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division opener for both teams.
One of Monta Vista’s losses came against Menlo, the team that finished second to the Matadors in last fall’s CCS and NorCal tourneys.
Like Monta Vista, Menlo went 2-2 in Fresno, including a loss to Saratoga in the battle for third and fourth place. Then less than a week later, the Matadors edged St. Francis and the Lancers bounced back to beat Menlo 4-3 two days later.
“There are a lot of good teams [in the CCS], a lot of parity,” said Gene Fortino, who is in his 11th season coaching at Monta Vista. “But without a doubt Saratoga is the strongest on paper. They have nearly everybody back and added four very good players, two seniors who did not play last year and two talented freshmen.”
Monta Vista lost four key players to graduation, but Aiswarya Sankar and Nicole Stomakhin returned for their senior seasons and moved into the top two singles positions. Laura Cao, who played doubles as a freshman last year, took the No. 3 singles spot, while freshmen Rashmi Ghonasgi and Carol Lei have alternated at No. 4.
Last week Sankar won each No. 1 singles contest, improving her season record to 4-2. She beat sophomore Christine McCarthy of St. Francis 6-1, 6-1 and topped Homestead’s Emily Bui 6-2, 6-0.
St. Francis led 3-2, but Cao and the No. 2 doubles combo of junior Anna Kang and sophomore Arushi Rai registered three-set wins, giving the Matadors the victory.
Homestead, which moved up to the De Anza Division after edging Los Gatos for the El Camino title last season, picked up a win at No. 2 singles with junior Alisha Parikh, but Monta Vista won the other three singles contests and swept the doubles.
Cao (No. 3) and Lei (No. 4) joined Sankar as singles winners for the Matadors, topping Homestead sophomore Annabelle Chen and freshman Stephanie Lok.
In doubles, junior Uma Kirloskar and Ghonasgi teamed at No. 1 to beat Mustangs Gabby Jones and Allison Dao, Kang and Rai won at No. 2 over senior Shannon Chin and freshman Mary Wang, and juniors Shaili Davuluru and Anushka Tiyagi took the No. 3 clash from senior Megan Mei and freshman Natalie Tarn.
Other Monta Vista players include senior Katherine Guo, juniors Sarah Lim, Sophia Cao, Lori Chang and Miharu Koh and sophomore Kelly Kim.
Fremont won its season debut Sept. 9, scoring a 5-2 win over The King’s Academy, despite dropping both No. 1 matches to the visiting Knights.
Tia Lee of TKA beat Fremont junior Chelsea So 6-1, 6-1 in singles, while Kari Bergstedt and Michelle Kwong teamed for a 6-4, 6-4 decision against Firebirds junior Rasika Kale and sophomore Vanessa Le.
Joining So, Kale and Le on coach John Musser’s 2014 Firebirds are seniors Jocelyn Tran, Jessica Silva Gonzalez and Saadia Quraishi, junior Taylor Randolph, sophomores Stephanie Cori and Shivani Ghate and freshmen Cynthia Liang and Kyra Peters.
Golf
Angela Liu shot the lowest 9-hole round in each of Lynbrook’s first two SCVAL golf matches last week.
In the division opener at the par-34 Saratoga Country Club on Sept.10, Liu earned medalist honors with her 3-over total of 37, but host Saratoga won the match by nine strokes 223-232.
The next day at Cupertino’s par-30 Deep Cliff Course, Liu and Jessica Luo each shot 31 and shared medalist honors, as the Vikings evened their record at 1-1 with a 182-220 win against Monta Vista (0-1).
Volleyball
In a battle between two of last year’s CCS champions, Division I kingpin Homestead won the first set 25-22, but Division III titlist Valley Christian roared back on its home court to win the next three, 25-15, 25-16, 25-15.
The loss dropped the Mustangs to 1-2 heading into last weekend’s San Luis Obispo Tournament. They opened the season with a 3-0 road loss at Presentation and followed that with a 3-1 victory over Harker.
The Mustangs reached the NorCal semifinals last year, after going 11-1 to win the SCVAL De Anza Division and taking three matches in a row to capture the CCS D-I crown.
Although Homestead lost its top two hitters, division MVP Casey Carroll and first team all-leaguer Morgan Robinson, plus libero Allison Inanoria to graduation, coach Gary Carroll has eight returning players back from that 27-8 team.
Setter Maria Balus, the league’s Outstanding Junior last fall, is back for her senior year. Other returning seniors include 6-foot-1 Katie Barker and 6-foot Connor Bunka, who each earned all-De Anza second team honors.
Seniors Olivia Poulos and Megan Cheng and juniors Breanna Rachel, Amanda Telfer and Celine Lee also are back. New players this season include senior Guinevere Abello, juniors Sofia Olsson, Ashley Helfenstine and Jamie Van Horne and sophomore Zoey Manzano.
Monta Vista has eight players back from a team that had a tough 5-17 campaign in 2013, but coach Colin Anderson added nine new players to the roster.
Two of those newcomers, sophomores Ellie Cary and Amanda Hua, came up big for the Matadors in their first two matches of the season, road contests at Lynbrook and Branham.
Cary was the top hitter at Branham on Sept. 11, putting away 10 kills during a 25-10, 18-25, 25-10, 25-18 triumph. In the season opener, Hua’s six kills sparked the Matadors’ straight-sets win at Lynbrook, 25-16, 25-11, 25-18, while sophomore Morgan Wu paced the Vikings with five kills and nine digs.
Monta Vista improved to 5-1 in the early season with a 3-1 showing at the Spike For a Cure tournament in Santa Clara on Sept. 13. The Matadors scored wins over Capuchino, Castilleja and Piedmont Hills, but lost to Del Mar.
Returning players for Monta Vista include seniors Hannah Pollek, Jasmine Lai and Quimby Lee and juniors Sydney Howard, Nicole Anderson-Au, Cynthia Shen, Michelle Wang and Kirthi Gomatam.
Wu, one of eight returning players from last year’s SCVAL El Camino champions, had 11 kills, five service aces and 16 digs in the Vikings’ sweep of Watsonville 25-13, 25-19, 25-17 on Sept. 10. Libero Alice Cai, one of four freshmen on coach Serena Jenkins’ squad, played a strong game, delivering 20 digs and two service aces.
Two other returning players provided key contributions in the win over Watsonville, senior Tanvi Bhatnagar with 19 digs and 3 aces and 6-foot junior Cate Hudepohl with seven kills. Freshmen Sara Mandic (5-foot-11) and Amy Steinmetz (6-foot-1) each came through with five blocks and three kills.
In between the loss and the win, Lynbrook went 2-3 at the Milpitas Spikefest on Sept. 5-6 and dropped a 3-0 match at Mountain View of the De Anza Division.
Steinmetz (8 kills), junior newcomer Esther Ho (8 digs) and returning sophomore setter Jiayi Shen (17 assists) were top performers in a 25-11, 25-9 Spikefest win over Silver Creek.
Other returning players for Lynbrook this fall include seniors Laura Hatton, Rena Li, Seungyeon Shin and Jamie Wong. New players include sophomore Cassandra Overney and freshman Amber Hsu.
Cupertino, which tied for second with Saratoga behind Lynbrook last year and won 26 matches before getting ousted from the CCS D-1 quarterfinals, also has big shoes to fill, after graduating seven seniors.
The Pioneers already have played 13 matches, including tournaments in each of the first two weekends of the season.
Three of the returning players–juniors Michelle Pyke and 6-foot Rithu Simha and senior Leah Ramirez–have been the top hitters. Pyke is the early team leader in kills and service aces, while Simha is tops in blocks. Kaitlyn Oh, one of four freshmen on the team, and returning junior Kristen Nagamatsu are 1-2 in digs and Nagamatsu also leads in assists.
Water polo
Junior Carmen Steinmeier of Fremont started the girls water polo season with a big splash on Sept. 10, scoring 11 goals during a 16-4 win at Lincoln of San Jose.
The Firebirds led 3-2 after one quarter and stretched its margin to 8-3 at halftime, before adding four more scores in each of the last two quarters.
Felicia Bajet and Caley Mason added two goals apiece and Priya Lee had one, supporting Steinmeier’s effort.
Fremont kept it going with a 12-10 win over Homestead in the opening round of the Lady Chargers Invitational Sept. 12 at Wilcox.
Homestead senior Katie Richards was the game’s high scorer with five and teammate Sarah McAllister tallied four, but the Firebirds had a more balanced attack with six players putting the ball into the net.
Senior Mina Loldj’s three goals paced Fremont’s line-up. Monsi Magal, Lee, Chrissy Steinmeier and Carmen Steinmeier scored two each, and Bajet had one. Homestead’s Megan Johnson-Guthrie also scored a goal.
The next day, Fremont lost twice to Buchanan of Clovis 20-7 and Carlmont 16-8. Carmen Steinmeier, with four goals in each game, was the only player to score more than once in either contest.
Homestead bounced back from its loss to Fremont by beating Harker 14-3. Richards again was the scoring leader, tossing four into the net. Petra Boester and Elizabeth Song added two apiece.
In boys action, Monta Vista lost 13-9 to Valley Christian on Sept. 9. Senior Patrick Duffy scored four and Anup Sankarraman had two for the Matadors, while senior Greg Moe and sophomore Pranav Madanahalli each chipped in with one.