Publication Date: Wednesday, October 19, 2005
PREP ROUNDUP
Menlo girls look ready for run at CCS tennis
Menlo girls look ready for run at CCS tennis
(October 19, 2005) Solid effort at state tournament gives Knights' coach reason to believe his team is ready to challenge once again
by Keith Peters
Bill Shine has been waiting for a sign his Menlo School girls' tennis team is ready to challenge for the Central Coast Section championship.
After a sixth-place finish in the National High School All-American Invitational in Newport Harbor last weekend, the Knights have given Shine what he wanted to see.
"I was really pleased with the girls' effort," Shine said of the 2-2 finish, which included a 5-4 loss to eventual runnerup Torrey Pines. "The girls really came together and supported the spirit of the team. They were not intimidated by the Southern California girls. They battled."
Shine said he saw a fierce look of determination in his players' eyes, something he hadn't seen this season.
"Now, I'm excited about what's going to happen the rest of the year," Shine said. "I can see a good ending to the end of the season."
Menlo (19-5) has not won a CCS title in two years, after winning six straight from 1997-2002. Monta Vista is the two-time defending champion, and showed it's ready to defend again by taking third in the National Invitational.
Saratoga, which was seeded fourth in the tournament, finished behind Menlo.
The Knights opened with a 5-4 win over Dana Hills and then fell to No. 2 seed Torrey Pines, 5-4. In Round 3, the Knights bounced back with a 6-3 triumph over Santa Barbara before falling to La Quinta in the fifth-place match, 5-4.
"We had a few chances against La Quinta," Shine said.
Menlo junior Sarah Hoffman was named to the 10-player All-American tournament team. She won three of four matches at No. 1 singles and teamed with Gaby Filipcik for a doubles win.
Sophomore Marjorie Adams also had a solid tourney for Menlo with four victories at No. 3 singles and two doubles wins.
Elsewhere in girls' tennis, Sacred Heart Prep (10-0) moved closer to winning its first-ever outright title in the West Catholic Athletic League with a 7-0 win over Notre Dame-Belmont last week. The Gators have four matches remaining, but only one - at St. Francis on Thursday - will be a challenge.
Sacred Heart (14-6 overall) did suffer a 4-3 nonleague loss at Los Gatos last Friday, but the Gators did not play their strongest lineup.
Cross country
The Palo Alto girls finished fourth in the first of three Center Meets at Crystal Springs in Belmont last week, scoring 160 points. Gunn was sixth with 165.
Paly junior Alicia Ivanhoe led her team with a fourth-place finish of 19:19 over the rolling 2.95-mile layout. All five Paly runners finished among the top 50.
In the boys' race, Menlo-Atherton grabbed fifth with 177 points as Robby Merk took 11th in 17:00 and Billy Hale was 12th in 17:08 to pace the Bears.
Boys soccer
Sacred Heart Prep maintained its lead in the Private Schools Athletic League with a 2-0 win over visiting Pinewood last Friday. Travis Benson and fellow junior Kevin McFarland provided the goals for Sacred Heart (9-1-1), which improved to 11-4-1 overall.
Girls volleyball
Menlo (7-1, 13-10) bounced back from its first PAL Bay Division loss (to Carlmont) by posting a 25-14, 25-27, 25-13, 25-4 win at Half Moon Bay.
The Knights and Carlmont hold a two-game lead with the second half of the league season now under way. The teams will face each other again on Nov. 3 at Menlo to conclude the regular season.
Natalie Sandman paced Menlo with 18 kills while Nicole Curatola added 12.
Boys water polo
Sacred Heart Prep showed it still has some work to do following a 9-5 loss to St. Francis in the finals of the Gator Classic on Saturday in Atherton.
The young Gators (16-5) fell behind early and couldn't dent the Lancers' defense enough in the second half. Elliott Samuels scored two goals in the finals, but fellow sophomore Pat Norton was held scoreless. Norton scored three goals in a 10-5 win over Palo Alto in the second round.
SHP senior Randy Ang scored six goals in the three tournament games. The Gators tuned up for the event with a 15-10 WCAL victory over host St. Ignatius as Norton scored five goals.
Palo Alto (14-10) finished third after a 7-6 victory over Menlo-Atherton (11-6) as senior Gregor Horstmeyer led the way with four goals. Senior Mike Sorgenfrei tallied four goals against SHP and had eight in an 11-10 double-overtime win over Serra in the opening round. Paly played without senior Eric Vallone, off on college visits.
Menlo-Atherton was led by junior Stephen Hicks, who finished the tourney with nine goals. The Bears beat Los Altos in the opening round, 14-7, before falling to St. Francis (8-5) and Paly.
In the Colin Connolly Invitational at Bellarmine Prep, Gunn (15-9) went 2-2 and finished fourth. Senior Kyle Gertridge led the Titans in scoring.
Girls water polo
Sacred Heart Prep (21-1) rolled through its own Gator Classic with four straight wins by a combined score of 55-20.
SHP sophomore Pallavi Menon scored four goals in a 16-3 win over Presentation in the championship game and finished with eight. Senior Christie Clark and junior Adriana Vogt topped the Gators with 10 goals each in the four wins while senior Melissa Mordell added seven.
Sophomore goalie Lindsay Dorst had 48 saves, including 14 (of 17 attempts) against Presentation and 12 in a 7-3 third-round win over St. Francis.
Palo Alto (17-8) had a 3-1 effort in the tourney, falling only to Presentation in the third round, 12-7. The Vikings beat St. Francis in the third-place match, 9-6, as junior Tanya Wilcox and senior Phoebe Champion combined for seven goals. The two scored 26 of Paly's 36 goals during the weekend.
Palo Alto can take a big step toward clinching the SCVAL De Anza Division regular-season title on Wednesday when the Vikings visit Los Altos.
At the annual Western States Invitational in Modesto, Menlo (16-4) finished fifth in the A division and Castilleja (10-16) grabbed second in the B division.
Kim Krueger tallied 10 goals and fellow junior Megan Burmeister added seven. The Knights went 4-1, losing only to NorCal power St. Francis of Sacramento, 5-4, in the quarterfinals. Menlo finished strong with a 6-5 win over Miramonte and a 5-4 overtime triumph over San Ramon Valley.
Castilleja junior Jessie Carr had 10 goals and 14 steals while sophomore Hilary Walecka added nine and freshman Ericka von Kaeppler contributed eight. Junior goalie Tori Anthony had 32 saves during the Gators' 4-1 performance.
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