The Cupertino Courier

Sports

Homestead on a roll with a pair of wins to open volleyball play

By Greg Lydon

With the first two rounds of the Central Coast Section girls volleyball playoffs on the books, the main question coming out of the Division I bracket is, can anyone stop Homestead?

The top-seeded Mustangs steamrolled No. 9 seed Milpitas 3-0 (25-7, 25-8, 25-21). Homestead got a balanced performance, having four players record at least five kills in the match. Outside hitters Lauren Hoopes and Allie Fickett led the way for Homestead, each recording six kills during the domination second round showing from the Mustangs.

Katherine Fischer and Tori Carroll each slammed home five kills of their own, helping Homestead move on to the semifinal round where it will face off against No. 4 seed Salinas on Nov. 14, 5:30 p.m., at Santa Clara High School. The winner will face the No. 2 San Benito (26-10)-No. 3 Carlmont (22-11) winner in the finals on Nov. 17, 7 p.m., at Independence.

The Division II bracket was littered with local teams. Five of the area teams entered the brackets, but only two remain entering the semi's.

No. 11 seed Lynbrook was bounced in round one by a tough Palo Alto squad. Paly defeated Lynbrook 3-0 (25-12, 25-12, 25-10) to win the battle of the Vikings. Lisa Yao had eight kills for Lynbrook.

No. 9 Leland hosted No. 7 Los Gatos, with the Wildcats punching their ticket to round 2.

Los Gatos defeated Leland 3-0 (25-14, 25-17, 25-12) to advance to face No. 2 seed Presentation. But the Panthers held serve, sending the Wildcats home for the season with a thrilling 3-2 victory.

The road doesn't get any easier for Presentation who will run into No. 3 St. Francis on Nov. 15, 5:30 p.m., at Santa Clara. That winner takes on the No. 1 Archbishop Mitty (27-3)-No. 4 Woodside (28-6) winner on Nov. 17, 4:30 p.m., at Independence.

Mitty took case of business in the bottom half of the bracket, defeating Mountain View 3-0 (25-16, 25-21, 25-20). The top-seeded Monarchs were paced by senior outside hitter Katherine Knox, who recorded nine kills in the winning effort.

The Division III brackets weren't as kind to the local teams as the local schools were all eliminated in the first two rounds.

Cupertino was bounced in the opening round.

Senior Katie Kao left it all on the court in her last match for Cupertino. Kao had 17 kills, but the Pioneers fell 3-2 to Notre Dame-San Jose 25-13, 25-15, 22-25, 19-25, 21-19.