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Published on 11/16/1998 All articles from this issue

It's SF in a yawner

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By Pete Borello

Town Crier Staff Writer

Lancers rout Eagles for CCS title

Pinewood falls in final

Pinewood coach Evan Barth said he can accept losing the CCS Division V final to Sacred Heart Prep last Saturday. It was the way his team lost, however, that bothered him.

"We didn't show up to play, and I'm disappointed in that aspect," he said. "I don't mind losing if I know we played our best, but we didn't do that."

No.2-seed Pinewood lost 15-4, 15-4, 15-1 to the No. 1 Gators.

Lauren Smith-Hams and Sebnum Kimyacioglu led the Panthers (23-3) with six kills.

Pinewood opened the NorCals Tuesday at College Prep.

Gunn downed in semis

Suspense. Drama. Excitement. Last Friday's Central Coast Section Division II girls volleyball final had none of these things.

As expected, top seed St. Francis handily beat No. 2 Los Altos in straight games: 15-4, 15-5, 15-5. The two teams, their fans and anyone with even the most basic knowledge of local prep volleyball could have predicted the outcome of this one.

It's not that the Eagles are a bad team - hey, they did reach the final - it's just that the Lancers are so darn good.

St. Francis came in ranked fourth in the nation and No. 1 among the state's Div. II teams. So the odds of the Lancers losing to Los Altos, a team they pummeled twice during the regular season, were extremely slim. We're talking slimmer than that actress on "Ally McBeal."

Los Altos coach Jason Mansfield said the Eagles had to play mistake-free volleyball to even make the match competitive. While that didn't happen, he was pleased with their effort.

"We played as well as we could against that team," he said.

Los Altos (22-12) gave St. Francis (35-1) some trouble at the start of Friday's match. The Eagles jumped out to a 3-0 lead in Game 1 behind the serving of Jennifer Watson.

But the lead was short-lived.

St. Francis went on a 15-1 run, thanks largely to the ferocious hitting of Stacy Millichap. The senior finished the match with 19 kills.

Millichap wasn't the only player to give Los Altos fits. Middle blocker Anna Kleinsorge was a terror at the net, totaling seven blocks and three kills.

"Some games you're on fire, and I'm glad (Friday) was one of those games," Kleinsorge said.

Los Altos' top performer was Samantha Quintero with 10 kills.

St. Francis and Los Altos opened the NorCal playoffs yesterday. Los Altos played at Amador Valley, while St. Francis hosted Castro Valley. Second-round games are Saturday.

Gunn High started slow and could never get in the flow during last Thursday's CCS Div. III semifinal match.

The second-seeded Titans fell to No. 6 Los Gatos 15-2, 15-8, 15-5 at Leland High.

"We didn't come out and play very well," said Gunn coach John Milkovich. "Our passing and serving were off and we didn't play good defense."

The Titans (33-7) fell behind 7-0 in the first game and couldn't recover.

Gunn settled down some in the second game, taking an early 3-2 lead. But after the Wildcats rallied for a 10-8 edge, the Titans collapsed.

"We gave up an easy side out and then started making more mental errors," Milkovich said.

Los Gatos went on to score the next five points to put the game away. A demoralized Gunn team then fell behind 13-0 in the third game, which sealed its fate.

"We were extremely tentative," Milkovich said. "If a fear of failure takes over you're in trouble, and that's what happened."

For the match, the Titans committed 10 serving errors and only recorded one ace. Amy Milo and Jacqueline Heler led Gunn with 12 and six kills, respectively, but each made three hitting errors.

While Milkovich was disappointed with the loss, he didn't dwell on it during a post-game team meeting.

"We had a good season and I reminded them of that," the coach said. "We accomplished a lot."