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Palo Alto Online

Tourneys will test polo teams

by Keith Peters

The gloves are coming off this weekend in two more big water polo invitationals that could separate the Central Coast Section contenders from the pretenders.

For the girls, the ninth annual Amanda MacDonald will bring together every CCS contender with the exception of St. Francis. The two-day tourney begins Friday at the Menlo College, Sacred Heart Prep and Castilleja pools.

Menlo, Mitty, Sacred Heart Prep and Palo Alto head each of the four divisions, while Menlo-Atherton, Gunn and Castilleja help fill out the 16-team field.

Castilleja will host Gunn on Friday at 2:30 p.m., followed by Palo Alto against Los Altos at 3:15 p.m. Matches on Saturday begin at 9 a.m. at Menlo and Sacred Heart Prep. The championship match will be Saturday at Menlo at 2:50 p.m., following the third-place match at 2 p.m.

Palo Alto, Menlo-Atherton and Gunn all tuned up last weekend with solid efforts.

The Vikings (10-4) dropped a 10-9 nonleague decision to visiting Davis, which isn't too bad considering Davis hasn't lost in three years.

"It was a great game," said Paly coach Steve Covec, whose team rallied from a 7-2 deficit and got within 8-6, despite having standouts Remy and Phoebe Champion sidelined by ejections.

Every time Paly scored late in the game, however, Davis found a way to match.

Covec was most impressed with his team's effort when the Champion sisters were out. Christina Partridge and Angelina Bena each scored big goals in the third quarter as Paly scored four times and got to within 10-7. The Vikings actually outscored Davis in the final quarter, 3-0.

Menlo-Atherton (7-6) went 3-1 and finished third in the A division of the Sixer Invitational at Independence High on Saturday while Gunn (8-5) also went 3-1 and finished third in the B division.

M-A romped past Aptos, 12-6, and Monta Vista, 13-1, before falling to Presentation, 10-6. The Bears bounced back with an 11-3 win over Santa Cruz.

Sophomore Kelly Eaton paced the Bears with 15 goals, 13 assists and 29 steals in the four matches. Goalie Hillary Sinnott continued her steady improvement with nine saves and four steals. Kelly Fero and Rita Bullwinkel each contributed eight goals and four assists for the Bears, who opened PAL Bay Division action Monday and visit Menlo on Wednesday at 3 p.m.

The Gunn girls got off to a slow start in their half of the tournament, losing to Leland, 3-2. After that, the Titans produced a 9-5 win over Newark Memorial; an 8-1 win over Independence, and a 11-1 romp over Saratoga for third place.

Di Eaton had nine steals against Saratoga in addition to three goals, while sisters Corrina and Serena Schlaile combined for six goals. In the win over Independence, Julia Lee and Whitney DeBruin each scored a pair of goals. Eaton had seven steals while Sasha Gourevitch and DeBruin added four each.
Boys water polo

Menlo-Atherton (6-2) tuned up for the annual St. Francis Invitational by winning the Valley Christian Tournament last weekend.

Joining the Bears this weekend at St. Francis will be Palo Alto, Menlo, Sacred Heart Prep and Gunn. All are contenders for CCS berths this season, with Menlo and SHP favored to go deep into the tournament.

Menlo-Atherton, which opened PAL Bay Division play Monday and visits Menlo on Wednesday at 5 p.m., used a balanced attack and solid defense to go 4-0 last weekend in San Jose. The Bears allowed 18 goals while scoring 40.

Peter Turner scored four goals in the championship game, an 8-4 victory over Robert Louis Stevenson. Michael Borcich led the Bears' scoring with 12 goals in the four victories while Joe Leoni added six. Borcich had four goals in a 9-4 semifinal win over Valley Christian.

Menlo (8-2) suffered a 6-5 nonleague loss to visiting De La Salle last Friday, but the Knights did enough good things to get ready for their PAL opening matches this week. Andy Suiter scored three goals while Steven Wright had four steals and goalie Jimmie Sandman had 10 saves.

Sacred Heart Prep (8-3) got seven goals from Brandon Child last week in an 8-3 nonleague win over Los Altos.

"They weren't crashing on the hole man," SHP coach Dante Dettamanti said of the Eagles' defensive tactics. "We were able to get the ball inside and Brandon went one-on-one. The guy they had covering him wasn't that big, so Brandon just turned on him."

And scored, scored, scored.

"I like to spread the scoring around," Dettamanti said, "but if they give it to our hole man, we'll take it."

Sacred Heart Prep put the game away in the first quarter with Child scoring four times and Ian Simon and Doug Wigley adding single goals. That made it easy for SHP goalie Chris Whittam, who blanked Los Altos through the first two quarters and allowed just one goal through three periods.

"I was pretty pleased," Dettamanti said, "because Los Altos almost beat Menlo last week (a 10-8 loss in the Scott Roche Invitational)."

Sacred Heart's victory was a good tuneup for Thursday's West Catholic Athletic League opener against Serra in the Gators' pool.
Girls tennis

Menlo remained undefeated at 14-0 with a big 9-0 nonleague victory over host Foothill of Pleasanton last Friday.

"It was a great victory," said Menlo coach Bill Shine. "Monta Vista had beaten this team, 6-1, and the girls wanted to go out and do well."

Menlo tuned up for the match by knocking off previously unbeaten Burlingame, 7-0, last Thursday in Atherton.

The Knights improved to 5-0 in the PAL Bay Division as Tiffany Lee, Sarah Hoffman, Gaby Filipcik and Katie Bouret swept the singles in straight sets.

Elsewhere in PAL action, Menlo-Atherton (3-2, 3-3) moved into fourth place with a 4-3 victory over host Aragon. Emily Mesirow of M-A battled for more than three hours before finally clinching the victory with a 3-6, 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-0) triumph at No. 3 singles.

In a battle of city rivals, Palo Alto rolled over visiting Gunn, 6-1, with every match decided in straight sets. The Vikings improved to 3-1 in the SCVAL De Anza Division (6-2 overall) while the Titans fell to 1-3 (2-4). Christina Hu, Austinn Freeman and Elizabeth Whyte produced singles victories.

In the WCAL, Sacred Heart Prep (2-2, 5-2) dropped a 5-2 decision to visiting Mitty on Thursday.
Girls volleyball

Sisters Kate and Alex Fisher paced Menlo School to an exciting 25-22, 22-25, 25-15, 29-27 triumph over host Menlo-Atherton in a key PAL Bay Division match last week.

Menlo remained undefeated in league play at 4-0 while the Bears fell to 2-2 (10-5 overall).

"It was good volleyball from start to finish," said M-A coach Phil Coyle.

In nonleague action, Sacred Heart Prep (14-5) got 15 kills and 24 digs from freshman Melissa Davison in a 22-25, 25-14, 25-16, 26-24 triumph over host Pinewood.