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Palo Alto Online

Menlo is ready to defend

by Keith Peters

The Menlo School boys' tennis team begins its quest today to share a bit of Central Coast Section history.

The Knights have won five straight CCS Division II team championships. Should they win their next three matches and secure title No. 6, they'll tie Palo Alto (1992-96) for the most consecutive section crowns.

Should Monta Vista win the Division I title next Thursday at the Courtside Tennis Club in Los Gatos, however, the Matadors will have seven straight crowns to their credit.

Both Menlo (19-3) and Monta Vista (18-1) are seeded No. 1 in their respective divisions. The Matadors, however, may have a tougher time repeating since SCVAL De Anza Division runnerup Los Gatos (22-5) has the talent to end the Matadors' streak.

Menlo, which plays host to No. 8 Saratoga today at 3 p.m., has a much-easier road to the top. The No. 2 seed in Division II is Mills, which Menlo defeated twice while compiling a 14-0 and winning their first PAL Bay Division title since moving from the Private Schools Athletic League this season.

Menlo also has beaten Mitty, a potential quarterfinal opponent, and has knocked off Los Altos (in the opposite bracket).

"I think the only team we have to worry about is ourselves," said Menlo coach Bill Shine. "If this team is on, we can go all the way - even in NorCals. I feel real confident with this team."

While Menlo opens up today, Palo Alto (18-6) and Menlo-Atherton (13-5) will play their second match this week after posting 6-1 first-round wins Wednesday in Division I action.

The No. 6 Vikings, despite having to default at No. 1 singles when Adam Lischinsky took sick, lost only 13 points while winning the other six matches in straight sets in eliminating No. 11 Yerba Buena.

Paly coach Andy Harader hopes the easy win will light a spark in his team, which played great during the first half of the season but lost six of seven following spring break.

"We needed this match to gain confidence and to get back on track," said Harader, who suggested all the talk leading up to the war with Iraq might have caused him team's downward spiral.

"The team was great before spring break," he said, "but these kids are smart."

During a trip to Carmel in April to face York School, Harader believes his players began to take sides regarding the rights and wrongs of the war. Quickly, the team chemistry that existed earlier disappeared.

"It was like the team started to come unglued," Harader said.

Harader hopes the Vikings' CCS win Wednesday has helped patch things up, just in time for today's 3 p.m. quarterfinal match against No. 3 Bellarmine (16-3) at Santa Clara University. One of the Bells' losses was to Paly on Feb. 26.

Menlo-Atherton, meanwhile, visits Blossom Valley Athletic League champ Leland today in San Jose. The Chargers (12-2) are seeded No. 4 while the Bears are No. 5.

Menlo-Atherton steamrolled Westmoor in its opener with each victory coming in straight sets. Nial Brash, Peter Aquilar and Ben Robinson lost only a combined seven points in the first three singles matches.

Semifinals in both divisions will be Tuesday at the highest seeds with the section finals scheduled for May 15 at noon and 2:30 p.m.

In league tournament action this week, Menlo's tandem of senior Chris Harris and sophomore Andrew Grauer tuned up the CCS team event by winning the Peninsula Athletic League doubles championship on Monday at Burlingame High. The Knights' duo downed Alex Chang and Jonathan Sun of Mills, 7-5, 6-4.
Golf

The best season for the Palo Alto boys' golf team in recent memory just keeps getting better. The Vikings, who compiled an 11-0-1 regular-season record, qualified for the Central Coast Section championships May 14 at Rancho Canada (West) in Carmel.

Palo Alto was one of four teams to qualify out of Monday's first of two regional tournaments, also held at Rancho Canada (West). The Vikings tied for second with R.L. Stevenson, both teams shooting 301. Paly, however, won the tiebreaker and earned the No. 2 spot out of the regional behind Bellarmine (297). The fourth team to qualify was Aptos, which won a tiebreaker with Burlingame for the final spot.

Paly sophmore Will Haydon led the way Monday with a 1-over-par 72. He also qualified for the CCS individual tournament along with junior Andy Livingston (75). Just missing was senior captain Aaron Telch (76), while freshman Natty Stern (78), senior Steve Kim (79) and junior John Robinson (80) rounded out the team efforts.

Advancing in individual competition was Menlo School's Colin Peck, who shot a 1-under 70 to finish second overall.
Baseball

Sacred Heart Prep (13-0, 13-7) clinched no worse than second place in the PSAL by earned a CCS Division III playoff berth following a 6-0 win over visiting Fremont Christian on Wednesday. Freshmen pitchers Pat Coffey, Kevin Dos Remedios and Scott Cattaneo joined with sophomore Michael Johnson in holding Fremont Christian to just one hit.

Palo Alto (9-4, 16-6) helped itself by downing rival Gunn, 9-1, Wednesday at Baylands and received some help in securing a CCS playoff berth when Los Gatos (8-7) dropped a 4-3 decision to Cupertino.

The Vikings, who still have two full games and a suspended contest to make up with first-place Wilcox (12-1), got two hits and three RBI from Russ Hagemann in the win over Gunn. Hagemann's two-run single in the fifth broke open a 1-1 contest. The next batter, Shane Parsons, also delivered a two-run single to make a winner out of starter David Stringer.

In the PAL Bay Division, Menlo-Atherton (8-4, 13-10-1) moved closer to securing a CCS playoff berth following a two-game sweep of Capuchino, which entered the series tied for first place.

T.C. Ostrander, who pitched a complete-game four-hitter in a 5-1 makeup win over Burlingame on Monday, delivered the game-winning hit Wednesday in a 3-0 triumph at Capuchino. A day earlier at Flood Park, Brendal Lyall slammed a three-run homer in the first and Justin Dove drove home Alex Bedrosian with the winning run in the bottom of the sixth in the Bears' 5-4 triumph. David Hicks slammed a solo homer and pitched a complete-game six-hitter to keep his team's playoff hopes alive.

Menlo snapped a four-game losing streak as Andy Suiter struck out 13 and walked only one to spark the Knights to a 5-0 makeup victory over host Sequoia on Monday. The Knights (8-5, 16-8) followed that with a 13-0 romp at Westmoor on Tuesday as Arif Virani flirted with a no-hitter before settling for a two-hitter.

Ryan Seawell had three hits in each game to pace Menlo, which hosts Westmoor today.

Softball

Palo Alto swept its season series with rival Gunn by posting a 3-1 win Monday in SCVAL El Camino Division play. The host Vikings got an RBI triple from Justine Wool and a run-scoring single from Kelli Fangonilo in the fifth to overcome the Titans (1-7, 4-8). Fangonilo and Emily Forman combined on a one-hitter.

Fangonilo added two hits, one a two-run homer, in Wednesday's 11-4 win at Fremont as the Vikings improved to 6-2 (9-11). Wool and Elena Rizza added three hits.

In the PAL Ocean Division, Menlo-Atherton (8-1, 10-11) opened up a two-game lead following a two-hit, 16-strikeout performance by Cameron Murfit in a 10-1 win over visiting El Camino. Meghan Nicholson had three hits for the Bears.