Honor roll: The week’s best performances by San Mateo County high school athletes

Sofie Zlobinsky, Hillsdale girls’ water polo. The Lady Knights are off to a rough start with a 1-4 record, but Zlobinsky and company got their money’s worth in that one win last Friday in a 15-4 blowout of Carlmont. The freshman contributed to 10 of Hillsdale’s 15 points, scoring eight times on 10 attempts and adding two assists.

Jimmy Naylor, Crystal eight-man football. The Gryphons opened their eight-man football schedule Aug. 28 with a 62-32 win at Tomales, with Naylor debuting at the quarterback position. All the junior did was gain 397 total yards with seven touchdowns, going 24-of-43 passing four 259 yards and four scores, while rushing six times for 138 yards and three more TDs.

Jack Freehill, Menlo School football. The senior quarterback accounted for 310 yards of offense in Menlo’s 42-28 win over San Mateo. Freehill, the 2024 Bay Division Offensive Back of the Year, completed just eight passes — which went for 201 yards and a score. He also rushed for a game-high 109 yards on 16 carries, adding three more touchdowns.

Hunter Coleman, Menlo School boys’ water polo. The sophomore had a big weekend in helping the Knights to a third-place finish in their Scott Roche Memorial Tournament. Over four games, during which Menlo went 3-1, Coleman combined for 19 goals, including nine in a 16-15 semifinal loss to La Jolla. He opened the tournament with two goals in a 12-3 win over Vista and followed that with six goals in a quarterfinal 15-9 win over Davis. He capped his tournament with two goals in a 9-4 win over Rio Americano-Sacramento.

Leilah Abrams, Sacred Heart Prep volleyball. After fueling the Gators’ 2024 CCS Division IV championship run as a freshman, Abrams is off to hot start as a sophomore. The 5-9 outside hitter recorded three double-doubles last week through SHP’s first three games, including a five-set win over Palo Alto in which she matched her career high of 21 kills to go with 19 digs. Abrams is currently averaging 4.1 kills per set, ranking second in the Central Coast Section among teams that report statistics to Maxpreps.com.

Evan Chopra, Menlo-Atherton boys’ cross country. M-A won the Varsity Boys 1 race at the season-opening Lowell Invitational, held Saturday at Golden Gate Park, and Chopra led the way. The junior took first place in the first of the two boys’ varsity races on the day, hitting the tape in 14 minutes, 25.1 seconds, just over two seconds faster than second-place finisher Hayes Terra of Beyer-Modesto. M-A claimed three of the top four spots, withy senior Aidan Sharp taking third in 14:46 flat, and senior Cason Mitchell taking fourth in 14:47.1, while senior Brady Phan (11th, 15:04.5) and junior Benjamin Salceda (27th, 15:30.9) rounded out the team victory.

Gia Rivera, Notre Dame-Belmont volleyball. The fourth-year varsity senior is already in midseason form, and enjoyed her best performance since 2023 in last week’s five-set win at Sequoia. Rivera took an extraordinary 60 swings, totaling 25 kills in the process. Recording a season-high in the second match of the year isn’t generally a big deal, but in this case the total matched Rivera’s season-high from 2024.

Nick Mazzola, Aragon football. The junior wide receiver had a massive game in the Dons’ 41-13 win over Oak Grove to improve to 2-0 on the season. Mazzola caught eight passes for 190 yards and three touchdowns. He opened the scoring with a nice connection from Isaiah Johnson, a 26-yard strike in the first quarter. Later in the same period, he turned a Johnson screen pass into a 36-yard score. Then in the fourth quarter, he iced the game, taking an Isaac Martinez screen pass and turning into an 85-yard scoring scamper.

Julia Cai, Nueva School volleyball. Just two matches into her varsity career, Nueva’s breakout freshman is terrorizing opposing defenses from the service line. In her varsity debut, Nueva’s three-set win over Pinewood, Cai fell just shy of an atypical double-double, totaling 12 kills to go with nine service aces. She followed that performance with another eight aces in a three-set sweep of Eastside College Prep.

Paxton Holden, Half Moon Bay football. The sophomore got the Cougars out to a fast start in their 49-21 win over Pacheco-Los Banos. Holden took the opening kickoff and returned it 60 yards for the score to get Half Moon Bay on the board in its home opener. The son of head coach Keith Holden went on to total five touchdowns in the first home varsity game of his career, as the Cougars’ latest triple-option quarterback rushed nine times for 63 yards and two TDs, while going 8-of-12 passing for 99 yards and two more scores.