Bearcats cruise in CCS

San Mateo, on the other hand, was 17-10 overall, but just 5-9 in Peninsula Athletic League Bay play.

But the lessons the Bearcats learned playing in one of the top divisions in the CCS showed as they swept past Lynbrook in straight sets, 25-19, 25-17, 25-16.

“We love playing in the Bay for this alone,” said San Mateo head coach Adoni Javellana, referring to his team’s performance against the Vikings.

San Mateo finished fifth in a division that features Menlo-Atherton, an Open Division team, and Aragon and Burlingame, which are seeded No. 1 in Division II and Division III, respectively.

Playing Bay-level competition sharpened the Bearcats for Tuesday’s match and after a slow start to Game 1, they pretty much controlled it.

Both team came in featuring a pair of formidable hitters: Lynbrook’s Madison Badger and Carrie Chern vs San Mateo’s Sarah Boncore and Olivia Salles. And while the Bearcats’ twosome got the better of the Vikings’ duo, it was the contributions from the rest of the team that carried San Mateo to the win.

Boncore led the way with a match-high 12 kills, while Salles added seven. But Sandra Lim, Danalyn Silva and Bella Fong combined for 15 kills, while setter Audrey Shao was flawless in guiding the offense.

And then there was the Bearcats’ serving, which really took its toll against the Lynbrook serve receive. Lim had a match-high four aces as the Bearcats finished with nine service winners in three sets.

Lim showed her prowess from the serve line early in the first set as the Vikings had jumped out to a quick 7-2 lead. Ruhi Sathe got a sideout for the Bearcats with an attack that rolled off the tape and fell. Lim then stepped to the line and served four straight winning points, with Boncore starting to heat up.

The junior outside hitter had a pair of kills during the 4-0 run, Salles added one and a Lynbrook hitting error tied the score at 7-all.

A Boncore smash down the line gave the Bearcats their first lead at 10-9 and they never relinquished it. Leading 17-16, San Mateo won nine of the last 12 points to take the set, with Boncore putting away back-to-back kills to ice it.

In Game 2, again behind strong serving from Lim, the Bearcats took a quick lead, extended it and never really let Lynbrook back in the game. Lim had a pair of aces and a Lynbrook error gave San Mateo a 4-1 lead, which the Bearcats extended to 13-4 on a Silva tip.

Lynbrook, however, stayed within shouting distance. That deficit was the largest of the game as the Viking slowly pecked away at the Bearcats’ advantage.

They got as close 21-16, but San Mateo responded with three straight kills to put the game away, with a Shao block for the set-winning point.

Game 3 stayed close for a while, with the scored tied at 2-2, 3-3, 4-4, 5-5 and 6-6. But a Lynbrook error gave the Bearcats a 7-6 and then they closed out the match. Silva had another kill on a tip, along with an ace; Salles’ mishit went for a winner and then a 4-0 run, including an ace from Lim and a kill from Boncore, and San Mateo was up 16-9.

The Bearcats then closed out the match with a flourish, winning five of the final six points, with a Lim kill putting the Vikings away for good.

Up next for the Bearcats is a showdown against crosstown rival and top-seeded Aragon at 7 p.m. Thursday in a semifinal match. Aragon beat No. 9 Sobrato in straights sets as well, , 25-17, 25-11, 28-26.

The Dons swept San Mateo in two matches in Bay Division play as the Bearcats managed to take just one set in six games against Menlo-Atherton, Aragon and Burlingame.

But Javellana said his team never got down.

“It’s never frustrating (playing in the Bay Division),” Javellana said. “We try to focus on how we’re doing. … We played great this year. We battled everyone.”

Sixth-seeded Woodside gives the PAL three teams in the Division II semifinals as the Wildcats (19-9) beat No. 3 Gunn (14-15) in three sets, 25-22, 25-23, 25-21. They will either host No. 10 Westmont or be on the road at No. 2 Monta Vista in a semifinal match Thursday. The result of the Westmont-Monta Vista match was not available at press time.

Carlmont, the lone PAL representative in Division I, saw its season come to an end as the sixth-seeded Scots (14-15) fell to No. 3 Branham, 25-20, 25-20, 21-25, 25-13.

In Division III action, top-seeded Burlingame (25-5) swept past No. 8 King City (8-17), 25-19, 25-15, 25-20. Also in Division III, No. 5 Riordan (12-13) rallied from a set down to beat No. 4 El Camino (21-6) in four sets, 22-25, 25-23, 26-24, 25-15.

Division IV saw No. 2 Mercy-Burlingame (22-9) and No. 4 Notre Dame-Belmont advance to the final four. The Bears beat No. 6 Pacific Grove (17-9) and will be on the road at No. 2 Harbor (25-8). The Tigers swept No. 5 Stevenson (21-5), 25-17, 25-8, 25-16 and will be at No. 1 Carmel (20-4) Thursday night.

In Division V, No. 1 Summit Shasta and No. 2 Crystal advanced to the semifinals with straight-set sweeps. Summit (20-5) beat No. 8 University Prep (13-15), 25-13, 25-9, 25-12 and will now host No. 4 Castilleja (19-9); while Crystal (20-4) rolled past No. 10 Oakwood (14-9), 25-9, 25-10, 25-20 and will host No. 3 Santa Catalina (11-11).