Publication Date: Friday, November 04, 2005
PREP ROUNDUP
M-A takes shot at NorCal golf
M-A takes shot at NorCal golf
(November 04, 2005) Bears show improvement after taking third in CCS
by Keith Peters
The Menlo-Atherton girls' golf team will take a shot at improving upon last season's finish at the Northern California championships when the Bears hit the fairways at Green Tree Golf Club in Vacaville on Monday.
Menlo-Atherton finished ninth a year ago with 497 strokes but has made big improvements this season, as this week's Central Coast Section finals will attest.
The Bears finished third for the second straight year, shooting a 347. In last year's CCS finals, the Bears finished at 367.
"I told our girls at the start of the season that we need to shave strokes," said M-A coach Buff Giurlani.
That's exactly what the Bears did. M-A's top finisher in Monday's section finals at Rancho Canada East GC in Carmel Valley was Salla Rapakko. She shot 83. A year ago she led the team with an 86. Jordan Micek shot 85 following a 92 in 2004, and Theresa Tenisi had an 89 on Monday after shooting 99 last year.
Mele Latu rounded out the 2005 performance with a 90. All four scorers will compete in Monday's NorCal tournament along with teammates Lauren Verity and Allie Stroud, whose scores didn't factor in at CCS.
Kelly Ashton of Menlo had the best CCS round by any local golfer with an 82. She missed qualifying for NorCals as an individual by one stroke.
Football
Palo Alto (4-0, 7-1) and host Wilcox (4-0, 8-0) will meet tonight at 7:30 p.m. with first place in the SCVAL De Anza Division at stake. Should the Vikings win, they still will need to beat visiting Los Gatos on Nov. 11 to claim their first league title since 1992.
Paly is averaging 31.5 points a game on offense while its defense is allowing just 12.2 points a game. A big defensive effort will be needed tonight to limit Wilcox's run-oriented offense. Junior quarterback Nick Goodspeed, who has thrown for 1,510 yards, also will need to be at his best after throwing for a season-low 82 yards in last week's 15-12 win over Mountain View that clinched a CCS playoff berth.
Boys soccer
Defending CCS Division III champion Sacred Heart Prep opened defense of its title on Thursday against visiting Eastside Prep, and the Gators were heavy favorites to advance to Saturday's section finals against No. 2 Harker at Valley Christian-San Jose at 1:30 p.m.
Girls tennis
Menlo junior Sarah Hoffman won her third consecutive PAL Bay Division singles title to lead a sweep by the Knights at the league's individual tournament that concluded Wednesday at Menlo.
Hoffman topped teammate Jennifer Goldman in the finals, 6-3, 6-3. The Menlo doubles team of junior Gaby Filipcik and senior Amanda Pade posted a 6-1, 6-0 over Burlingame's Kelley Chan and Kristin Freethy.
In the doubles' third-place match, Menlo's Michelle Nguyen and Tracy Montgomery posted a 7-5, 6-1 triumph.
Hoffman plus the tandem of Filipcik and Pade will compete in the CCS Singles and Doubles Championships that begin Nov. 21. The Knights will open CCS team competition next week.
In the SCVAL individual tournament at Los Altos, Palo Alto junior Chrissy Hu fell to Monta Vista's Sophie Chang in the semifinals, 6-2, 6-3.
In the PSAL tournament in Fremont, Pinewood's Mithya Srinivasan and Maxine Lim earned a berth into the CCS doubles competition by winning their league tourney title, 6-3, 6-2, over Sam Went and Becky Burnside of King's Academy.
Girls volleyball
First-year coach Matt Hoffman knew it would take time for his Gunn players to adjust to a new playing style. His best hope, then, was to have his team playing its best at the end of the season.
After three straight wins last week and another to open this week, it appears that Hoffman's plans have been realized.
"Gradually, they've caught on and played well together," Hoffman said after Tuesday's 25-14, 25-23, 25-20 win over visiting Mountain View clinched a CCS playoff berth for the Titans. "We wanted to play our best volleyball at the end of the season. They (the Gunn players) believe now they can win. It's taken two months to get that - knowing they can win instead of just hoping."
Gunn took over sole possession of second place in the SCVAL De Anza Division by beating Mountain View. Maile Krauss had 37 assists while Alex Graves had 12 kills. The Titans (7-4, 17-12) were expected to beat visiting Saratoga last night in a final tuneup before next week's CCS playoffs begin.
Gunn seniors Nicole Einfalt, Ashley Gardiner, Graves, Krauss and Lucy Lanza all played their final regular-season match against Saratoga on Senior Night.
The goal now, said Krauss, is to get past the second round of CCS - something the current seniors have not done.
In the West Bay Athletic League, Castilleja (10-1, 29-6) was hoping to finish up the regular season tied for the league lead going into last night's match at Mercy-San Francisco. The Gators went 5-1 in Hiram Johnson West Campus Tournament in Sacramento last weekend as senior Ariel Baxterbeck produced 55 kills.
Boys water polo
Sacred Heart Prep (23-8) advanced to Friday's semifinals of the West Catholic Athletic League tournament with a 10-5 win over visiting St. Ignatius on Tuesday. Sophomore Michael Bausback led SHP with a season-high four goals while freshman Paul Rudolph added three.
The semifinals of the SCVAL De Anza Division will be Friday at Los Altos with the PAL Bay Division semifinals set for Burlingame. Finals are Saturday for all three tournaments.
Girls water polo
Gunn senior Di Eaton scored six goals and sophomore Stephanie Hoffman added four to pace the Titans to a 14-3 romp over host Saratoga in the opening round of the SCVAL De Anza Division tournament.
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