Almaden Resident

Sports

Leland wins league volleyball title, advance to CCS playoffs

By Dick Sparrer

It wasn't a perfect league season for the Leland girls volleyball team--there was, after all, that 3-1 loss to Mt. Pleasant early in the year.

But those Lady Chargers came darn close to perfection, and it was good enough for a championship in the rugged Mt. Hamilton Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League was on the line.

Leland wrapped up the league season and got a little revenge against Mt. Pleasant in the process with a 25-27, 26-24, 25-19, 25-16 victory over the Cardinals to close out Mt. Hamilton play last week.

The Chargers, who made short work of Leigh 25-16, 25-15, 25-15 earlier in the week, closed out the league campaign with a 13-1 record.

By winning the championship, Leland clinched a place in the Central Coast Section Division II playoffs. The Chargers, seeded No. 6 with a 26-7 season record, were to open CCS play against No. 11 Mountain View (12-20) on Nov. 8 with the winner to meet the No. 14 Los Gatos (11-8)-No. 3 St. Francis (31-5) winner on Nov. 11, 11 a.m., at Leland.

It's been quite a run for the Chargers. They opened the league season with five straight wins before losing to Mt. Pleasant. They rebounded from that loss, though, to close out Mt. Hamilton play with eight consecutive victories.

Seniors Chaulet Scala and Grace Chang sparked the Chargers to the two victories last week. Scala hammered a team-high 15 kills to the floor in the win over the Longhorns, and Change finished with 19 kills in the victory over the Cardinals.

In other local volleyball action, Pioneer closed out the West Valley Division with a couple of wins to finish the season with an 8-6 league mark and an 11-10 record overall.

The Mustangs whipped San Jose Academy in three straight, 25-18, 25-22, 25-7, and needed just four games to turn back Gunderson 25-16, 32-30, 13-25, 25-15.

Hockey team in CCS

The Leland field hockey will join the volleyball team in CCS play after clinching third place in the Mt. Hamilton Division of the BVAL with a tight 1-0 overtime win over Los Gatos last week.

With the win, Leland clinched third place in the division with a 7-5 record. Mitty finished first at 9-0-3 and St. Francis nailed second at 8-1-3. Los Gatos ended up fourth at 6-5-1.

The CCS pairings were not available at press time, but the playoffs will begin on Nov. 9 at the home fields of the highest seeded teams. The quarterfinals are Saturday at St. Francis with the semifinals on Nov. 14 and the championship game on Nov. 18, 11 a.m., both at St. Francis.

Jessica Kolte scored an overtime goal off a Claire Thompson assist to lift the Chargers to the thrilling win over the Wildcats last week.

Leland had opened the week with a tough 2-1 loss to St. Francis, despite a first-half goal by A.J. Huffman, but battled back to shut out Monta Vista 2-0. Huffman and Christina Vierra each scored goals for the Chargers in the win over the Matadors.

Netters in playoffs

The Leland girls tennis team was also involved in CCS play this week. The Chargers (18-2) were to open against Santa Cruz (15-2) on Nov. 7 with the winner to face No. 7 seed St. Francis (16-5) on Wednesday. The tournament quarterfinals are Nov. 10 with the semifinals on Nov. 13 and the championship match on Nov. 15. The semi's and the finals will be played at the Courtside Tennis Club in Los Gatos.

Leading the Chargers into the playoffs will be Roxy Pourmirzaie, Lydia Chow, Nikita Gettu and Youngeun Na. All four players have qualified for the CCS individual tennis championships that begin Nov. 20 at Courtside. Pourmirzaie and Chow will compete in the singles tourney and Gettu and Na will team up in doubles play.

Polo teams advance

Both the Leland girls and boys water polo teams and the Pioneer girls move into CCS play this week.

The Leland boys, seeded No. 8 with a 13-8 season record, were to open CCS Division I play against No. 9 Los Gatos (15-12) on Nov. 7 with the winner to face No. Bellarmine (19-7) on Nov. 11.

Leland's girls, the No. 2 seed with a 21-6 record, face a first-round bye and will face the No. 10 Lincoln (16-8)-No. 7 Mitty (17-10) winner on Saturday. The No. 1 seed in the CCS Division I tourney is St. Francis (16-10).

The Pioneer girls were to open the CCS Division II tourney as the No. 6 seed with an 18-6 record, facing No. 11 Soquel (11-7) on Wednesday. The winner will challenge No. 3 Santa Catalina (20-3) on Nov. 11.