As Mountain View High learned the hard way last week in the Central Coast Section girls volleyball playoffs, there is something to that cliche about how difficult it is to beat a team three times in one season.
Hosting a Monta Vista team they defeated twice in league play, the top-seeded Spartans (23-5) fell to the No. 4 Matadors (13-11) in four sets Thursday in the CCS Division I semifinals.
Mountain View, coming off a quarterfinal sweep of No. 5 Cupertino two days earlier, “had a huge letdown against Monta Vista,” coach Dave Winn said.
The coach added that the Spartans’ “serving wasn’t nearly tough enough, and we didn’t get enough productivity from our middle attacks. But a lot of credit goes to Monta Vista for playing some inspired volleyball.”
The loss didn’t end Mountain View’s season, however. The Spartans landed an at-large berth in the Northern California Division II playoffs that began Tuesday. Seeded 11th, Mountain View opened play at No. 6 Archie Williams (20-7) of San Anselmo, after the Town Crier’s deadline.
“We’ll see if we can make the most of this opportunity to have at least one more match this season,” Winn said.
The winner advances to Thursday’s second round to face No. 3 Burlingame (24-6) or No. 14 Clovis East (19-8).
St. Francis qualified for NorCal as well, nabbing the eighth and final berth in Division I after exiting the CCS Open Division playoffs in the semifinals. The Lancers (18-11) are scheduled to visit top-seeded Marin Catholic (28-2) 6 p.m. today. The winner takes on No. 4 Menlo (28-6) or No. 5 Clovis West (33-7) in the semis 6 p.m. Saturday at the home of the higher seed.
Los Altos’ season came to a close in the CCS Division I semifinals Thursday. The No. 3 Eagles (23-13) lost in four sets to visiting No. 7 Menlo-Atherton (17-17), the eventual champion. Emma Symon recorded 15 kills and six blocks in the loss.
Girls golf
Los Altos placed third at the CCS championships Nov. 2 at Laguna Seca Golf Ranch, seizing the section’s third and final berth in the NorCal championships.
Coach Abe Roof said the Eagles “had a terrific day” in Monterey, shooting a team score of 385. Freshman Cami Thai led the way, finishing in a three-way tie for third with a 1-under-par 70. Her older sister Sophie, a senior, shot a 73 to tie three other golfers for ninth.
St. Francis placed fifth at CCS and Mountain View took 11th.
NorCal was played Monday, after the Town Crier’s deadline, at the Berkeley Country Club. The top three teams and top nine individuals not part of one of those teams advance to next Tuesday’s state championships at Poppy Hills Golf Course in Pebble Beach.
Cross-country
The Los Altos girls ran away with the SCVAL El Camino Division championship, beating runner-up Palo Alto by 23 points in the league finals Nov. 2 at Crystal Springs to qualify for this Saturday’s CCS meet on the same course.
The Eagles’ team time of 95 minutes, 10 seconds broke the school record they set earlier this season at Crystal Springs by 27 seconds. Los Altos’ top finishers were Fiona Bodkin (third, 18:42.3), Riley Capuano (fourth, 18:49.6), Lauren Soobrian (fifth, 18:54.1), Maddy Randall (ninth, 19:12) and Jasleen Sidhu (11th, 19:31.6).
Mountain View placed third, paced by Julia Gentin (10th, 19:23.1).
On the boys side, the CCS-bound Spartans finished second to Palo Alto behind Emmanuel Leblond’s winning time of 15:19.4. Evan Markelz came in third with a 15:46.1.
The Los Altos boys took fifth and qualified three runners for CCS: Boden Sirey (20th, 16:52), Joseph Falkenburg (25th, 17:18) and Nathaniel Joffe (27th, 17:23).
Girls tennis
Los Altos, Mountain View and St. Francis have qualified for this week’s CCS team playoffs, with each of them earning a first-round bye.
No. 6 Los Altos (15-7), No. 7 Mountain View (8-6) and No. 3 St. Francis (15-2) were each slated for open play Tuesday; wins put them in Thursday’s semifinals.
