For six holes, Castilleja senior Niav Layton was nowhere to be seen near the top of the leaderboard of the NCGA/CIF NorCal Tournament at Woodbridge Golf and Country Club in Lodi on Monday.
Bouncing back from 5-over a third of the way in, Layton shot a 1-under the rest of the way to finish 11th overall with a round of 76. More importantly, Layton played her way into a spot at the state tournament at Victoria Club in Riverside on Nov. 14.
Palo Alto freshman Bridget O’Keefe will join Layton in Riverside after finishing ninth overall with a round of 75.
The Vikings finished in a fourth-place tie with Foothill, each with a round of 400. It was highest finish of any Central Coast Section team.
Marina Mata and Katherine Sung also turned solid rounds for Palo Alto, each shooting a 79. Madison Pineda followed with an 83, Sydney Sung shot an 84 and Priya Bakshi shot an 85.
Pinewood’s Megan Chou also competed in her second NorCal tournament, tying Bakshi with a round of 85.
NorCal girls volleyball
Palo Alto in the Open Division and both Menlo School and Menlo-Atherton in Division I will have a tough road ahead to the state finals if they can make that far.
All three schools received low seeds in their respective divisions. The Vikings (24-5) were seeded seventh in the field of eight and travels to Clovis to meet No. 2 seeded Buchanan (33-7) on Wednesday at 6 p.m.
The Bears have won their last nine straight and 11 of 12 overall. They are undefeated in 10 home matches. Buchanan opened the season with nine matches in volleyball-crazed Hawaii, where it finished 7-2 and reached the championship match.
Palo Alto had a nine-match winning streak stopped by CCS Open Division champion Sacred Heart Cathedral, the overall No. 1 seed in NorCals, in the semifinals of the CCS tourney.
In Division I, Menlo-Atherton (23-5) was seeded 13th and travels to Pleasanton to meet No. 4 Amador Valley (24-6) at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
Menlo School (22-11) received the 14th seed in Division I and plays at No. 3 Campolindo (26-8) in Moraga at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
The two teams played in the SoCal Invitational earlier in the season. They did not meet but had two common opponents. Vista Murrieta and Cathedral Catholic beat both the Knights and Cougars.
By Palo Alto Online Sports
By Palo Alto Online Sports
By Palo Alto Online Sports
“Bouncing back from 5-under a third of the way in, Layton shot a 1-under the rest of the way to finish 11th overall with a round of 76.”
Perhaps Layton actually bounced back from 5-over (+5) a third of the way in, not 5-under (-5).