Paly, SHP and Castilleja advance in NorCals

The first big step has been taken by three local teams in the CIF Northern California girls’ volleyball playoffs as Palo Alto, Sacred Heart Prep and Castilleja all won their openers on Tuesday night. Now comes the tough part.

Palo Alto will face No. 2 St. Francis (Sacramento), Sacred Heart Prep will take on No.1 Christian Brothers and Castilleja must tangle with No. 1 Branson, all in semifinal matches Saturday at 7 p.m.

For Palo Alto (36-4), which is seeded No. 5 for traveling purposes but is actually the No. 2 seed (ahead of St. Francis-Sacramento), this is new territory for the current players. The last time Paly made it this far was in 2000, when the Vikings reached the NorCal finals before losing to — St. Francis (Mountain View).

Head coach Dave Winn also is making his first appearance in the NorCal semifinals. As head coach at Los Altos in 2002, he got his team to a NorCal opener before losing. Thus, the semifinals provide a great, albeit new, challenge.

“They (St. Francis) have some tall, powerful girls on that team,” said Winn, who is 123-31 in his fourth year at Paly.”And, it will be quite a conquest to beat them. But, of course, our goal is a rematch with Mitty.”

Facing nationally No. 1 Mitty is the carrot leading Palo Alto in these playoffs. The Vikings were swept by the Monarchs in the Central Coast Section Division II finals and Paly wants to show the nation’s best that it can play much better.

The Vikings pretty much showed No. 4 seed Pleasant Valley (31-9), the Northern Section champ, just how tough they be with a dominating effort in a 25-9, 25-14, 25-27, 25-20 victory in Chico. Paly once again improved its school record for single-season victories with its 36th triumph. The Vikings have won 34 of their past 35 matches this season after having a 33-match win streak snapped by Mitty last weekend.

Paly’s 6-foot-5 sophomore Melanie Wade had 12 kills and six blocks, senior Marissa Florant added 17 kills and junior Trina Ohms contributed six blocks and five aces to the victory played at Marsh Junior High. Blocking was the key for Paly, which dominated with its size.

In the Division IV playoffs, Sacred Heart Prep is making its first appearance since 2001. The No. 4-seeded Gators (24-10) made the most of it with a 28-26, 19-25, 25-19, 25-23 victory over No. 6 Marin Catholic (29-12) on Tuesday night in Atherton.

Christine Renschler led SHP with 13 kills while Kate Kerwin added 11 while hitting .688 in arguably her best match of the season. Jesse Ebner added nine kills, DeAnna Kneis had 19 digs while Margot Roux provided 34 assists for the Gators, who have won four straight in the postseason — including three straight to win the CCS Division IV crown last weekend.

When SHP last won a CCS title, in 1998, the Gators also won a NorCal title and advanced to the state finals.

Against Marin Catholic on Tuesday, neither team led by more than six points the entire way. Games 1 and 4 featured a combined 20 ties and 21 lead changes alone. Marin Catholic helped SHP with 17 hitting errors and 15 service errors in the match.

In Division V on Tuesday, No. 5 Castilleja (18-13) defeated No. 4 Ripon Christian (17-17) in the Central Valley, 25-11, 22-25, 25-13, 25-18. Senior Erin McLaughlin had 17 kills and 27 digs, sophomore Hannah Boland added 10 kills and four blocks, junior Laura Rose produced 10 kills, four aces and two blocks and junior setter Sophie Koontz had 35 assists.

“We rebounded really well (from CCS) and the loss was a good wake-up call,” said Castilleja coach Tracie Meskell. “Size helped but our ball control is what really helped us to win. Ripon Christian had good blocking, so good passing helped us to run a more complex offense.”

Castilleja will have a shorter trip on Saturday when it travels to the College of Marin to take on No. 1 Branson (32-5), the North Coast Section champ.

“We’ve never played Branson before,” said Meskell. “I will be happy just to make it to the NorCal finals. Being the four seed means we will be challenged every step of the way. I hope we will get one more chance to play Mt. Madonna (which beat Castilleja in the CCS finals). Revenge is always a great motivating factor.”

In a NorCal Division I opener, No. 6 seed Menlo-Atherton (21-9) saw its season end in a 25-19, 25-21, 19-25, 25-21 loss to No. 3 Amador Valley (30-7) in Pleasanton. Sophia Cornew, the Bears’ only senior, had 26 assists in her final match. Katelyn Doherty added 18 digs and five kills.