Menlo girls don't mind underdog Menlo girls don't mind underdog (November 17, 2004)role in CCS tennis title match

by Keith Peters

Bill Shine knows what it feels like to be the favorite. His Menlo School girls' tennis team won six straight Central Coast Section championships from 1997-2002.

Shine also knows what it's like to be the underdog. His Knights were beaten by Monta Vista in last season's CCS and NorCal title matches.

Menlo once again will be playing the underdog role when the No. 2-seeded Knights (24-3) take on No. 1 Monta Vista (25-0) in the CCS championship match Wednesday at Courtside Tennis Club in Los Gatos at 2 p.m.

Given the choice of roles, Shine certainly doesn't mind his current one.

"The pressure's not on us," he said. "They're supposed to kill us. We're going to look at it as a great opportunity to pull off a great upset."

As good as the Matadors were a year ago, they're even better this season. They graduated only a No. 3 doubles team and half of their No. 1 doubles squad. They not only returned their top four singles players, but added the No. 1 Girls' 18 singles player in Northern California (Carmen Seremeta).

"This is a much better team than last year," said Shine, "because everybody is a year older and they're all playing a position lower (because of Seremeta's return to No. 1 singles after a year's absence). If Monta Vista played Monta Vista of 2003, Monta Vista of 2004 would win, 7-0."

With that said, one would think Menlo has no chance Wednesday. Shine, however, believes anything can happen at this level.

"We had some close matches with them in the past few matches," he said. "The Boston Red Sox were down 3-0 to the Yankees and came back to win. So, anything can happen . . . The girls are really looking forward to it. They're excited to play them again."

Both teams are coming off impressive wins in Monday's semifinals at Courtside. Menlo disposed of No. 3 Saratoga, 6-1, with Monta Vista ending the season of No. 4 Sacred Heart Prep, 7-0. The Gators finished 22-5.

"I think the match was closer than it really looked," Shine said of the win over Saratoga. "The girls really hung in there and pulled out some close matches. Overall, I'm really pleased. We're starting to play much better. Whether that's good enough for Monta Vista, who knows?"

One of the best matchups in the finals will be at No. 1 singles where Menlo sophomore Sarah Hoffman faces Seremeta. Hoffman beat Seremeta at the Peach Tree Classic in Fresno earlier this year and has lost only one match this season. Juniors Amanda Pade and Ashley Carlisle have been rock solid at No. 3 and 4 singles, respectively, and the No. 1 doubles team of Gaby Filipcik and Kate Serrurier also is coming on strong.

The No. 2 doubles tandem of freshman Allison Carlisle and junior Tracey Montgomery also won Monday, as did the No. 3 doubles team of senior Jen Berry and junior Drizella Moreno. The sweep in doubles pleased Shine and gives him added hope against Monta Vista.

No matter what happens Wednesday, Menlo already has secured a berth in the NorCal Tournament that runs Friday and Saturday at the Fremont Tennis Center in Fremont. The CCS individual tournament begins next Monday at Courtside.

While Sacred Heart Prep bowed out, as expected, the Gators arguably will be even better next season. Their singles lineup features a freshman (Sam Rosekrans) at No. 1, a sophomore (Haley Hemm) at No. 2 and two juniors (Mollie Parker and Lauren Evans) while juniors Nicky Budd-Thanos and Irene Palafox are solid at No. 2 doubles.
Girls volleyball

Second-seeded Menlo (20-11) and No. 3 seed Castilleja (32-4) will meet Wednesday in the semifinals of the CCS Division IV tournament at Valley Christian-San Jose at 8 p.m.

The winner will advance to the section finals on Saturday at West Valley College in Saratoga and an automatic berth into the NorCal tournament next week. For the loser, it's the end of another fine season.

"This is just for a NorCal berth or going on to the CCS finals," said Menlo coach Ryan Cooling. "There is no grudge match, or bragging rights. This is just about moving on to the next round. They (Castilleja) are just another team, a very good team. I think it will be a really great match on Wednesday."

Said Castilleja coach Tracie Hubbard, who guided her team to the CCS finals last season: "I think the team is really excited and determined and the match against Menlo will be fun. I really don't care when we see Menlo. I expect the girls to play some of their best volleyball yet, and Menlo will be the perfect opportunity to test that."

Castilleja advanced with 25-9, 25-13, 25-10 romp over No. 5 Santa Catalina while Menlo moved on with a lackluster 25-15, 25-23, 25-22 win over No. 10 San Lorenzo Valley during Saturday's quarterfinals.

"We didn't play inspired volleyball at all," Cooling said. "I was disappointed in that. But we executed fine. We will have to play a lot better on Wednesday if we want to beat Castilleja."

Also suriving the weekend was No. 6 Woodside Priory (11-12), which upset No. 3 Pinewood in Division V action at Santa Clara High, 14-25, 25-12, 25-22, 25-23, 15-12. Hannah Lippe (20 kills) and Sami Andreacchi (18 kills) stood out for the Panthers (16-11) while Laura Trudelle led Woodside Priory into Thursday's semifinals against No. 2 St. Thomas More at Valley Christian-San Jose.

Not surviving the weekend was Menlo-Atherton, Palo Alto and Gunn.

Fourth-seeded Menlo-Atherton (22-13) fell to No. 5 San Benito, 25-19, 25-19, 25-17 in the Division I quarterfinals.

"They (San Benito) are a fairly big team and triple-blocked the middle frequently," said M-A coach Phil Coyle. "We passed just OK, our defense was shaky at the middle back and we uncharacteristically missed a lot of serves."

The loss marked the end of fine careers for seniors Kelly Wright, Nikki Engelhardt, Kerry Kilduff, Natalie Chladek and Lisa Jacobs.

Palo Alto (25-10) and Gunn (20-12) saw their fine seasons end in sweeps to No. 1 Mitty (25-23, 25-11, 25-6) and No. 4 Presentation (25-16, 25-19, 25-22), respectively.

"Despite the score of our match, I never felt that we didn't have a chance to beat Mitty," said Paly coach Dave Huan. "Things started falling apart after we droped that first game. Great teams have this way of taking advantage of those situations and making good teams look bad.

"Am I and is the rest of the team a little disappointed in the results of our last match? Naturally. We hate to lose. But, if any team were going to end our run this year, at least it was Mitty."

Paly seniors Lindsey Harris, Shaina Epstein, Katrina Zawojski, Murray Koch and and Dami Wusu all played their final prep matches.

For Gunn coach Minh Dang, his team also hung tough before finally falling.

"We played them tough," he said. "The girls were tentative at first, but after they settled down they played well. We struggled with our serving and our serve receive, which was understandable since Pres was sending SCUD missles over the net at us."

The match was the final one for Gunn seniors Shannon Harney, Annique Melese, Jessica Perricone, Katelyn Reese and Jennifer Wang.
Boys water polo

Third-seeded Gunn (23-10) will take on No. 2 Salinas (18-6) on Wednesday in the semifinals of the CCS Division I tournament at Independence High in San Jose. The Titans advanced with a 9-7 victory over No. 6 Serra last Saturday, and are a victory away from earning a berth in this Saturday's championship match - likely against defending champ Bellarmine at 1:30 p.m.

"We beat a Serra team that has dramatically improved since we beat them earlier this year, 13-2," said Gunn coach Mark Hernandez. "Though we never trailed in the game, we were very jittery the entire first half. I think the memories of last year's CCS loss were creeping into our heads . . . but, we survived and advanced."

Junior Kyle Gertridge led Gunn with three goals with senior Nick Rouse contributing two. Senior Arjan Ligtenberg played limited minutes due to a strained ligament in his wrist and the Titans lost junior Eric Stewart to a third ejection early in the second half.

In Division II semifinals Tuesday, top-seeded Menlo (28-5) met No. 5 Santa Cruz (28-5) and No. 3 Sacred Heart Prep (22-9) took on No. 2 St. Francis (25-7). The winners will meet Saturday in the title match at Independence at 10 a.m..
Girls water polo

Top-seeded Sacred Heart Prep (21-4) took on No. 5 Menlo (24-7) and No. 2 St. Francis (24-5) faced No. 3 Palo Alto (25-6) in semifinals Tuesday at St. Francis. The winners advance to the section finals on Saturday at Independence at 11:45 a.m.

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