The top three seeds--Monta Vista, Saratoga and Menlo--all won 7-0 in the quarterfinal round on Nov. 11, but No. 4 Sacred Heart Prep lost to fifth seed Archbishop Mitty, 5-2.

Semifinal matches on Nov. 14 pitted Saratoga against Menlo and Monta Vista against Mitty. The winners were to meet for the CCS championship on Nov. 16 at Courtside Tennis Club in Los Gatos. Both finalists will advance as high seeds in the Northern California Regional Championships Nov. 18-19 in Fremont.

"It's really too bad that only two of our CCS teams can go to NorCals," noted Monta Vista coach Gene Fortino. "Most of the best tennis teams are in our section."

The CCS winner will be the top seed in the NorCal regional, set for the Fremont Tennis Center. The CCS runner-up will be the No. 3 seed, meaning that the top two CCS teams could meet for the NorCal title.

Bad weather ended Monta Vista's second-round match against Los Gatos with the Matadors leading 4-0. Two days later, Monta Vista blanked St. Francis 7-0 in the quarterfinals.

Junior Vidya Dabir won the No. 1 singles match in straight sets on both dates. The Matadors' top doubles team, Chau Nguyen and Courtney Chin, was unable to finish play against Los Gatos before the bad weather set in. But the sophomore tandem breezed in straight sets against the Lancers.

Individual tourney

Monta Vista's No. 2 player, Sophie Chang, will be one of the top seeds in the CCS individual tennis championships Nov. 21-22 at Courtside. Chang, who recently won the De Anza Division singles crown, will compete against 15 others in the single-elimination tourney.

Chin will team with Taskeen Bains against 15 other pairs in the doubles competition. Chin and Bains, who captured the De Anza crown, are the top seed. Lynbrook's duo of Anita Wong and Anusha Srithera is also entered.

Homestead advances

Led by freshman Katherine Fischer's 17 kills, Homestead defeated Independence in the first round of the CCS Division I volleyball playoffs.

The Mustangs raised their record to 25-12 by beating the 76ers, 25-16, 21-25, 25-17, 25-21. They advance to a semifinal match against top seed San Benito of Hollister, which opened with a three-game win over Monta Vista.

Homestead and San Benito will tangle on Nov. 17 at Santa Clara High.

The Mustangs will have their hands full against San Benito, now 34-4 after beating Monta Vista 25-19, 25-10, 25-14.

Lynbrook falls in hockey

Lynbrook's first trip to the CCS field hockey championship tournament since 2001 was short-lived. Defending CCS co-champion Saratoga saw to that, knocking off the host Vikings 2-1 in a first-round game on Nov. 10.

The Vikings, after finishing second in the Blossom Valley Athletic League's Santa Teresa Division with an overall record of 12-2-4 record, had earned the No. 7 seed in the 12-team field. Saratoga was the No. 10 seed.

Marissa Avina scored Lynbrook's only goal, with an assist from Erin Yasukawa. The Vikings' CCS appearance capped the high school field hockey careers of Avina, Yasukawa, Taylor Hasco, Corin Imai, Noveen Moinpour, Sara Krukiel, Mallory Rose and Shelby White.

Homestead did not receive a CCS berth, but deserved one.

Playing in the West Valley Division, which receives just two spots in the tournament, the Mustangs tied with Branham and Del Mar for second place behind division champ Presentation.

Branham and Homestead finished with identical marks of 10-3-1, while Del Mar posted a 9-1-4 record. Using the league's point system of three for a win and one for a tie, the three squads shared second place with 31 points. Del Mar received the second Santa Teresa spot, based on the BVAL's tiebreaker system.

Contributing to Homestead's successful season were team members Alyssa Bereznak, Nicole Caballero, Nicole Cefalu, Annie Cheng, Rodhiya Colson, Emily Critchfield, Tiffany Fang, Jennifer Garnett, Courtney Gosnell, Melanie Gularte, Ali Holtzapple, Jamie Keith, Samantha Lee, Chelsea Maniscalco, Lindsay McLaughlin, Shirin Mollah, Katherine Sun, Melinda Templeman and Jessica Wang.