Publication Date: Wednesday, October 13, 2004
PREP SPORTS
Menlo volleyball, SHP
Menlo volleyball, SHP
(October 13, 2004)boys' soccer rise
to the challenge
by Keith Peters
They are called different things, these games that mean a difference. Must win. Crucial. Critical. Tide-turning. Season-makers. They all mean the same - win them and a championship could be waiting.
The Menlo School girls' volleyball team and Sacred Heart Prep boys' soccer team reached this point in their seasons last week. Menlo faced off with Carlmont in a battle of undefeated PAL Bay Division teams while undefeated Sacred Heart Prep visited defending Central Coast Section Division III champion King's Academy.
Winning these matches, of course, meant everything. First place was at stake for both the Knights and Gators, as were winning streaks. Most important, victories would provide challenges to opponents for the remainder of the season.
Perhaps not too surprising, both Menlo and Sacred Heart Prep were successful in meeting their respective challenges.
The Knights (6-0, 8-5) held off visiting Carlmont (5-1) in the first big volleyball showdown of the season, 15-25, 25-15, 25-19, 25-19 last Thursday. The match marked the return of Menlo senior Alex Fisher, who had been held out of the previous four matches (all wins) with a slight knee injury suffered against Menlo-Atherton on Sept. 21.
"Alex just banged her knee during the M-A game and, instead of aggravating it, we rested her," said Menlo coach Ryan Cooling, who then decided to hold out his Stanford-bound standout to see if his other players could win without her.
"I do think my experiment worked well," Cooling said. "Getting a lot of kids playing time allows me to make subs or changes on the fly and everyone is ready. I like to reload instead of rebuild. They realized with Alex out, that they could still win. Just when Alex is back, they are much stronger. She just does the intangibles and is such a leader."
It took the first game against Carlmont to get Fisher back in the flow. The Scots ganged up on the 6-foot-2 outside hitter and double-blocked every chance they got.
"The sets were pretty low and inside for Alex to actually get a swing, but Carlmont was in perfect position to block her," Cooling said. "But, that did allow our other players to come on strong."
Junior Ali Lycette and freshman Natalie Sandman took advantage of the attention shown to Fisher by recording eight kills apiece. Freshman Katherine Gorman contributed 15 digs and Fisher finally got around Carlmont's block for a team-high 13 kills.
Menlo was favored to beat Half Moon Bay on Tuesday and take a 7-0 record into the second half of league play, which begins Thursday at Menlo-Atherton (4-2, 15-11).
"M-A will be a great match," said Cooling, whose team defeated the Bears in five games to open the league season. "They are scrappy and have some strong players. It is always a battle at their house."
The Sacred Heart Prep boys' soccer team expected a battle with host King's Academy last week, especially since the Gators already had beaten King's twice this season. SHP, however, got two quick goals in the opening 15 minutes from Alex Vukic and Travis Benson and went on to post an important 4-1 triumph in Private Schools Athletic League action.
The Gators improved to 9-0 in league (13-0 overall) and maintained a slight lead over second-place Valley Christian-Dublin (9-1). Those two teams will meet at Dublin on Nov. 2, likely to decide the PSAL champion.
SHP coach Juan Camahort said his team learned from last week's 2-1 win over visiting Redwood Christian, which began only the first team this season to grab a lead over the Gators.
"That game against Redwood Christian was a wakeup call," Camahort said. "We just have to play hard from the beginning. If we do that, we'll be all right."
Sacred Heart Prep, which has matches this week against visiting Woodside Priory (Tuesday) and at Redwood Christian (Wednesday), has combined a strong offense with an excellent defense this season. The Gators have scored 52 goals and allowed only five.
SHP's undefeated JV team from a year ago is partially responsible for this season's varsity success. JV grads Garrick Yuen (goalie), Cory Hatton (stopper), Kevin Bocci (sweeper) and Keegan Leary (left defender) have been outstanding on defense while Vukic has sparked the offense.
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