Publication Date: Wednesday, November 23, 2005
PREP ROUNDUP
Castilleja wins CCS volleyball
Castilleja wins CCS volleyball
(November 23, 2005) by Keith Peters
The Castilleja girls' volleyball team spent Saturday celebrating its first-ever Central Coast Section Division V championship. The Gators, however, are hoping the celebration doesn't end there.
The triumph in CCS earned Castilleja (33-6) the No. 1 seed for the CIF Northern California Championships, which began Tuesday night. The Gators hosted No. 8 Portola (19-10) at Eastside Prep.
Castilleja was favored to advance and host a semifinal match Saturday, likely at Eastside Prep again. The NorCal finals will be next Tuesday, with the state championships set for Saddleback College on Dec. 3.
The Gators certainly have what it takes to get that far, and coach Tracie Hubbard knows all she needs is a duplicate effort from CCS.
"The team played really well together on Saturday and that was the exact performance I was looking for," Hubbard said.
Castilleja captured its first CCS crown with a 25-13, 25-19, 25-16 victory over No. 2 seed Sacred Heart Prep (19-16) on Saturday at West Valley College in Saratoga. The Gators opened NorCal play Tuesday at Crystal Springs Uplands.
Castilleja seniors Ariel Baxterbeck (14 kills, 15 digs), Alissa Flesher (14 kills) and Chelsea Ono-Horn (11 digs) led the way against SHP, while Katherine Jordan was a standout with her setting.
"Everyone contributed and did a great job of not letting up," Hubbard said.
As for the NorCal tournament?
"We don't have much information on our upcoming competition, but we are confident that as long as we play like we did Saturday, we should be able to make it a long ways in this tournament."
Joining Castilleja and Sacred Heart Prep in NorCals is Menlo, which received the No. 5 seed in Division IV after falling to Sacred Heart Cathedral in the CCS finals Saturday, 27-25, 25-20, 25-19.
"We played well and I thought our defensive effort was tremendous," said Menlo's first-year coach Chris Crader. "But, we couldn't quite get it done. We were right there for 99 percent of the match."
As for NorCals?
"We're very excited about the chance to go on in NorCals, and keep our season going a little longer," Crader said.
Menlo (23-13) traveled to No. 4 Sutter (39-4) on Tuesday night. Sutter had a 24-match winning after winning the North Section title.
Girls tennis
Menlo (28-6) was able to beat Monte Vista, but not Monta Vista and fell in the NorCal finals last Saturday to the Cupertino-based team, 6-1, at the Fremont Tennis Center.
The Knights registered two 7-0 wins in the opening rounds, including a blanking of Monte Vista (Danville) in the semis. In the finals, however, the Knights weren't able to recreate their 4-3 win over the Matadors a few days earlier in the CCS finals.
"They really tried to keep their focus and not let up," said Menlo coach Bill Shine, "but it's really, really tough to have three emotional, huge matches."
Menlo beat Saratoga in the CCS semis, 7-0, before upsetting Monta Vista for the CCS title. After two easy NorCal wins, the Knights and Matadors met again with different results.
"It was just a lot of tennis in the last five days," Shine said. "There are no excuses, but I don't think they had any energy left in the emotional tank. We lost all the close matches that we won on Wednesday."
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