Girls water polo
Las Lomas 13, San Ramon Valley 12
Las Lomas advanced to the NCS Division I final after it earned a five-overtime victory over San Ramon Valley. The Knights lost the two regular season matches to the Wolves, but won when it counted to advance to its third consecutive title game.
Sierra Brown scored three goals, her third being the game-winner in sudden death. Lily Palma was also spectacular for Las Lomas, putting in seven goals to go along with five exclusions drawn, one assist and a steal.
Teagan Claus scored one goal and dished out four assists, and Rachel Eger and Sydney Walburg both scored a goal each. Geneva Reese saved 13 shots in goal for Las Lomas.
San Ramon Valley had plenty of standouts in the loss. Morgan Hoffman had two backhand cross-cage goals out of set, and freshman Daphne Mundelius had six goals. Fellow freshman Olivia Anderson had three assists, and Natalie Buck scored two goals.
Brooke Temkin scored a goal for SRV, and seniors Rachel Kral and Katie Libertore each had an assist for the Wolves. Shelby Killingsworth saved 15 shots and also had an assist as a GK.
Las Lomas will play No. 1 seed Archie Williams at Acalanes on Saturday for the NCS title. Archie Williams defeated Northgate 8-2 in the other NCS final. Down in Division II, Encinal lost 9-2 to Tamalpais in the semifinal round.
Acalanes 10, Carondelet 9
Something must have been in the (water polo) water on Wednesday night, because Las Lomas wasn’t the only team to play a five-overtime game. Acalanes took five overtime periods to defeat Carondelet in the Division I third-place game.
Wendy Heffelfinger scored the game-winner for Acalanes, and goalie Adelyn Horciza saved multiple shots in a game that went a real-world hour without either team scoring. Her sister Elsa Horciza scored twice for Carondelet.
Boys water polo
Sacred Heart Prep 14, Los Gatos 10
Oliver Marcin scored four goals for the Gators as Sacred Heart Prep advanced to the CCS Open Division final vs. Bellarmine.
Clay Carrington, Tyler Hogan, Andrew Spencer and Luke Kirincich each scored two goals apiece in a balanced attack. Nelson Harris and Jake Reinke both scored one goal. Hogan had a team-high three assists, and Kirincich and Carrington had two assists each.
Five players scored two goals each for Los Gatos, those Wildcats being Liam Amburegy, Ryan Madsen, Mathijs Dirven, Connor Sullivan and Richard Runge.
Murdock Baker-Matsuoka had 10 saves as SHP’s primary goalkeeper. Los Gatos briefly led 3-2 in the second quarter, but Los Gatos went on a 10-1 run to take control of the game.
Leland 9, Stevenson 8
Leland advanced to the Division II championship vs. Soquel on Saturday after it slipped past Stevenson. Trevor Cosgrove, a senior, scored a team-high three goals for the victors.
Louis DeScioli scored twice, and then Luke Raimondi, Logan Grimes and Jake Primmer scored one goal each. Leland junior Max Buran scored one goal and dished out a team-high four assists.
Boys water polo notes
Bellarmine defeated St. Francis 11-8 in the Open Division semifinal. Palo Alto and Archbishop Mitty will play in the Division I championship game. Palo Alto beat Los Altos 9-8, and Archbishop Mitty routed Menlo-Atherton 16-1.
Girls volleyball
Foothill 3. St. Mary’s Stockton 1
Foothill improved to 37-1 after it rolled past St. Mary’s-Stockton 25-17, 23-25, 25-23, 25-21. Katie Salonga had an impressive 53 assists and 11 digs.
Many of those assists helped set up Paige Bennett, who had 24 kills to go along with 11 digs. Kait Vogel had 23 digs and seven aces, and Kaycie Burdick had 14 service points and 13 kills as Foothill advanced to the second round of the NorCal Open playoffs.
Up next for the Falcons is reigning NorCal Open champions St. Francis, which defeated St. Ignatius 3-0 on Wednesday night. Foothill will play the Lancers on Saturday.
Volleyball notes
No. 1 seed Archbishop Mitty defeated Redwood 3-0 to advance to the semifinal vs. Branson in the Open Divison’s other side of the NorCal bracket.
Branson rolled past No. 4 Sacred Heart Prep 3-0 in the only upset of the first round. All the higher SoCal teams also won their first-round matches.
Other notes
Mitty sophomore girls basketball and softball player McKenna Woliczko was named the 2022-23 San Jose Sports Hall of Fame girls high school athlete of the year at the organization’s ceremony on Wednesday night. Fellow Mitty alum Danny Scudero, now a freshman on the Sacramento State football team, was named the boys HS athlete of the year. Woliczko was the BANG girls basketball player of the year and Scudero was the BANG Santa Clara football player of the year.
Congrats to Monarch McKenna Woliczko on being honored as San Jose Sports Hall of Fame 2023 High School Athlete of the Year! @mitty_wbb @MittySoftball #goMonarchs 🦁👑🏀🥎 pic.twitter.com/THTG0plfs0
— Mitty WBB (@mitty_wbb) November 9, 2023
