October 21, 2005

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Palo Alto Online

He's keeping alive a tradition

by Keith Peters

Chris Crader may be in only his first season as head coach of the Menlo School girls' volleyball team, but he has known about the program for years.

"Derek Martinez was a roommate of mine during part of his Menlo tenure," Crader said, "and I knew a lot of those girls well."

Crader also knew of Menlo from his more recent days as an assistant coach at Presentation, when his squad would knock heads with the Knights, the Fisher sisters and the numerous other Menlo standouts who took the program to the state finals in 2001 and '02.

Crader, then, knew of Menlo's volleyball heritage and certainly didn't want change things.

"One of the first things I said during our first open gym, and repeated during our first practice, was to say that we've gone three years without a CCS title and two without going to NorCals, and that my goal is to change that," Crader said. "And yeah, we have a young team, but I didn't want to wait for them to get older, because we have four seniors, and they want to get back to winning CCS and going on NorCal runs this year.

"I think the girls know of the success, and we had talked about only losing one match in three years of PAL (Bay Division play) before this year, and we talk about the banners on the wall. So we have an expectation of winning PAL, but we also have the knowledge that it's very hard, and that everyone would be really gunning for us this year -- because they gun for us every year, and because of the graduation losses. So Menlo's history is important to me, and I think the girls all know about it, and definitely want to work hard to add new, great chapters to that history."

Crader certainly hasn't let things slide this season. The Knights were in first place with an 8-1 record (14-10) going into yesterday's match with Woodside, which upset co-leader Carlmont (7-2) on Tuesday while Menlo was beating visiting Menlo-Atherton, 25-18, 25-19, 25-16.

If Menlo was able to hold off Woodside, the stage will be set for a Menlo-Carlmont rematch in the Knights' gym on Nov. 3. That's the final match of the regular season and likely will determine whether wins a fourth-straight division title.

"As far as the Carlmont rematch goes, that's a long way away," Crader said. "There are a lot of things that could be mental edges, or not. I'm just trying to help the girls get as prepared as they can be for that match and every match, and have them be confident and show up and play well. "They keep working hard and improving, and get along really well, so we're doing everything we can to be as ready as we can for Woodside or Sequoia or Carlmont or CCS or whoever else we see."

Crader has been getting a lot out of his four years and young supporting cast. The seniors are Ali Lycette and Nicole Curatola in the middle, Jessie Foley on the front right and Elena Stein in the back row.

"They haven't won a CCS title or suited up for a NorCal match, but they have that urgency of senior year, and have been great for us," Crader said of his seniors.

Junior setter Allie Zamaria, 6-foot-2 sophomore outside hitter Natalie Sandman and freshman Abby Whelan also have been among the solid players this season.

"We have a lot of younger players," Crader said. "They're awesome, but they make mistakes. But older players make mistakes, too. We do have pretty good depth (all 13 players had significant time Tuesday). That will help this Saturday in the (Milpitas Spikefest II) tournament, and it makes practice that much better, when you go starters vs. non-starters, and both teams are talented enough to really push the girls on the other side.

"Overall, my goals at Menlo are to win the PAL Bay Division every year, to get back to the point where we're winning CCS titles and reaching the state final on a regular basis. If we get there often enough, eventually we'll win a state title."

"Obviously those are big goals," Crader continued, "and the PAL gets tougher every year so even just winning league is now a great accomplishment if we can do it. But, I've always aimed high, and I think the "average" Menlo student has the expectation of being above average. So they want to aim high too. Thus, not upholding the tradition, but adding to it and surpassing it."

Elsewhere in volleyball this week:

Palo Alto got back to 4-4 in the SCVAL De Anza Division with a 26-24, 25-22, 21-25, 25-18 win at Milpitas. The Vikings (4-4, 14-10) got a season-high 25 kills from senior Becca Hagemann.

Gunn fell to 4-4 (10-10) following a 25-20, 25-20, 15-25, 25-22 loss at Los Altos. Samantha Rohman and Alex Graves paced the Titans with 11 kills each.

In the West Catholic Athletic League, Sacred Heart Prep (0-5, 17-12) came up short in a bid for its first league win during a 25-18, 22-25, 25-20, 25-22 setback to visiting Notre Dame-Belmont. Sarah King had 29 assists and Melissa Davison 14 kills for the Gators.
Boys soccer

The Private Schools Athletic League got considerably tighter this week following Sacred Heart Prep's 2-0 loss at Harker. The Gators (9-2-1, 11-5-1) began the day in first place and ended it in second, behind Harker (9-2-2).

Harker took a 1-0 lead when the ball bounced off one of its players and into the goal. After SHP keeper Garrick Yuen blocked one penalty kick in the second half, Harker got another one and made it count.

The shutout loss was SHP's first of the season. Coach Juan Camahort, in fact, can't even remember the last time his squad was blanked.

The Gators are faced with having to win their final four matches, which would give them enough points to overtake Harker, which can finish with no more than 38 points while SHP can finish with 40.

"It's still in our hands," Camahort said.
Cross country

Castilleja continued its preparation for the Nov. 12 CCS championships by winning another West Bay Athletic League meet. The Gators totaled 30 points at the 2.95-mile layout at Crystal Springs in Belmont on Tuesday, with senior Ashley Schoettle winning the individual title in 19:14. Tomi Amos was third in 20:47.

Gunn will host Palo Alto on Tuesday in the annual City Championships at 3:30 p.m.

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