San Mateo County sports roundup

Sacred Heart Prep 15, Mitty 9

The Gators kicked off the Jamie Frank Era in West Coast Athletic League play with a resounding win over the Monarchs in San Jose.

Ella Woodhead and Eleanor Facey were the big guns for the Gators, scoring five and four goals, respectively. Isabella Bachler netted a hat trick, Alexandra Szczerba scored twice, while Ashley Penner and Madeline Johnson each scored a goal apiece.

SHP goaltender Megan Norris finished with 10 saves. As a team, the Gators came up with 14 steals, with Szczerba leading the team with three.

The Gators got off to a quick start, taking a 4-1 lead after one period. They added five more in the second, two in the third and tallied four more times over the final seven minutes.

Aragon 6, Woodside 4

The Dons opened PAL Bay Division play with a tight win over the Wildcats.

Maria Sell finished with three goals and six steals for Aragon, while Grace Simenc scored twice, came up with a pair of steals, while also adding an assist and a block. Kristina Bruce had a goal and an assist, while Katie Hsu and Holly Fletcher each scored once for the Dons.

Aragon goaltender Hannah Flynn finished with 18 blocks.

The Dons needed every one of Flynn’s saves to come out with the win. The score was tied at 1-all after one period, but Woodside went into halftime with a 2-1 lead. The teams were knotted at 4-4 after three, but the Dons scored twice and shut out the Wildcats in the four period.

San Mateo 16, Sequoia 11

The Bearcats season opener was also its PAL Ocean Division opener, where they downed the Cherokees in a high-scoring affair.

San Mateo led 3-2 after one period but to take control with an eight-goal second period to hold an 11-3 advantage at halftime.

Sequoia, however, got back in the game, outscoring the Bearcats 5-2 in the third to close to 13-7, but the Cherokees could not hold off San Mateo in the fourth.

The Bearcats were led by Megan Chung, who poured in nine goals. Caroline Zhu added four for San Mateo, which also got a pair from Jax Rittenhouse and one from Emily Chinn.

Menlo-Atherton 11, Notre Dame-Belmont 2

After going undefeated in winning the PAL Ocean Division title in 2017, the Tigers were moved up to the Bay Division for this season.

They’ll have their work cut out for them as the Bears buried NDB in the division opener for both teams.

Michelle Kleytman and Isa Mack accounted for the NDB goals. Annalee Wolfe finished with five saves in the cage for the Tigers.

Boys’ water polo

Sacred Heart Prep 16, Mitty 0

The Gators did something not often seen in water polo: posting a shutout.

But SHP did just that to the Monarchs in the WCAL opener for both teams.

Andrew Churukian and James Plaschke each scored a hat trick to lead the Gators. Kyle Ballack, Larsen Weigle, Will Riley and Xavier Marco all scored twice for SHP.

The Gators’ goalies didn’t see much action as Griffin Price and John Petrakian each finished with two saves.

Volleyball

Palo Alto 3, Menlo School 2

In a back-and-forth match, the Vikings pulled out the non-league win over the Knights, 31-29, 21-25, 25-14, 23-25, 15-9.

Grace King led the Menlo offense, finishing with 23 kills. Hanna Houghton added 12 and Anna Guirogassian finished with eight.

King and Houghton also had big games defensively, finishing with 24 and 33 digs, respectively. Guirogassian had five blocks while freshman setter Zoe Gregory finished with 30 assists.

Girls’ golf

San Mateo 220, Aragon 245

The Bearcats stayed unbeaten in Bay Division play, improving to 3-0 on the season with the win over the rival Dons at Poplar Creek Golf Course in San Mateo.

San Mateo’s Lindsey Huang earned low-score honors with a 2-over 37. Lynn Sasaki carded a 42, while Yasmin Pandora fired a 43 and Jackie Louie a 48.

Aragon was led by Madi Yoo and Brenda Fang, who both finished with 44s.

Castilleja 258, Mercy-Burlingame 239

Despite playing their first home match at Crystal Springs and closing the gap with the Gators from their first match of the season, the Crusaders still came up on the short end, falling to Castilleja 258-239.

Maya Zeidan and Brooke Barron led Mercy with scores of 45 and 51, respectively.

Castilleja posted the two best rounds of the day, as Divyh took low-score honors with a 36. Niav Layton was only one shot back at 37.

Girls’ tennis

Menlo-Atherton 7, Burlingame 0

There was some talk that the Bears might not be as strong as they have been in past seasons.

Don’t tell that to the Panthers, who were routed by M-A as the Bears did not lose a set.

Not only did M-A win in straight sets in every match, no one gave up more than four games in a match. Only Maddie Wachhorst managed to win four games against M-A’s Sophia Longo at No. 1 singles, as Longo posted a 6-1, 6-4 win.

Sarah Marks was especially dominant at No. 3 singles for the Bears, posting a 6-0, 6-1 victory.

In doubles action, M-A’s No. 1 tandem of Laura Kirk and Nia Zisman won 6-3, 6-0.

TUESDAY

Volleyball

Sacred Heart Prep 3, Carlmont 1

The Gators picked up a big non-league win over the Scots, 25-15, 22-25, 25-19, 26-24 — a rematch of the Nor Cal Division II championship match last year, a game also won by the Gators.

Ally Polverari led the SHP attack, finishing with 11 kills. Millie Muir dished out 41 assists while also adding 13 digs and three aces. Leia Bonifacio finished with 14 digs for the Gators.

Carlmont was paced by Alisha Mitha, who finished with a match-high 13 kills. Clara Vltavsky added nine kills, three blocks and two digs, while Jules Tan and Tiara Testa combined to pump out 40 assists — 20 apiece.

Notre Dame-Belmont 3, Burlingame 0

The Tigers keep rolling along in non-league play, sweeping the Panthers 25-13, 25-17, 25-13.

Abby Miller and Vanessa Pan led the NDB attack as Miller finished with eight kills while Pan recorded seven. Delaney Walsh and Kendall Peters were strong defensively. Peters finished with a team-high 13 digs, while Walsh chipped in with 11.

Burlingame got eight kills from Caroline Smith, who also dug up 10 balls. Eloise Uhrich had a team-high 12 digs for the Panthers.

Girls’ golf

Sacred Heart Prep 263, Notre Dame-SJ 271

The Gators opened WBAL play with a win over Regents at Sharon Heights Golf & Country Club.

SHP’s Danielle Sarkisian and NDSJ’s Varsha Nakkanti shared-low score honors as each finished with a 45 on the par-36 course. While SHP (1-0 WBAL, 1-1 overall) had only one player shoot in the 40s, they had no one score in the 60s. NDSJ had two players.

Hannah Lesti came in with a 52 for SHP, while Chloe Kufeld and Alexandra Hull each finished with 55s. Maddie Levey rounded out the scoring for the Gators, finishing with a 56.

Girls’ tennis

Crystal Springs 5, San Mateo 2

The Gryphons earned their first-ever tennis win over the Bearcats in a non-league match.

After dropping the first two singles matches, Crystal Springs swept the final five to take the victory.

All five of the Crystal Springs wins came in three sets. Using a super tiebreaker for the final sets, the Gryhons dominated the race to 10 points.

Serena Deb got the ball rolling for Crystal Springs with her three-set win at No. 3 singles, 6-3, 4-6, (10-3).

San Mateo got its wins from Sarah Fung-Smith at No. 1 singles, 6-2, 6-2, and at No. 2 singles, where Grace Wang posted a 6-3, 6-3 victory.

Girls’ water polo

Half Moon Bay 14, Capuchino 0

The Cougars opened PAL Ocean Division play in emphatic fashion with a shutout of the Mustangs.

Seven players scored for HMB.