By Dick Sparrer
Some weeks are just better than others. And the Saratoga girls' tennis teams had two in a row when the Falcons won five straight matches to push their season record to an impressive 9-1.
The Falcons whipped Los Altos 6-1, blanked Homestead 7-0, beat Lynbrook 5-2 and aced Gunn 6-1 to drive their record to 5-1 in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League. Saratoga also handled Mitty 7-0 in a nonleague match.
Robyn Katzman, Malea Doore and Nicole Behnke cruised to wins in singles play to lead the Falcons to the easy win over Los Altos.
Katzman nailed a 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 2 singles for Saratoga. Doore backed that up with a 6-0, 6-2 victory at No. 3 singles, and Behnke won 6-1, 6-1 at No. 4. Lindsay Lightbody and Kelly Pisani teamed for a 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 win at No. 1 to lead a Saratoga sweep in doubles play.
Saratoga came back with a sweep against Homestead later in the week.
Katzman posted a 6-2, 6-0 win at No. 1 singles, and Camille Behnke won 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 at No. 2 singles. Doore won easily 6-0, 6-0 at No. 3 singles, and N. Behnke won 6-1, 6-3 at No. 4. Lightbody and Pisani combined for a 6-1, 6-3 win at No. 1 to lead another doubles sweep.
In nonleague action against Mitty, Doore moved into the No. 1 singles spot and posted a 6-0, 6-1 victory.
N. Behnke notched at 6-2, 6-0 win at No. 2 singles, and Carolyn Hooper won 6-3, 6-0 at No. 3 singles. Stacy Chua supported with a 6-1, 6-2 win at No. 4. Pisani, and Lightbody added another 6-2, 6-1 victory at No. 1 doubles, and the Falcons were on their way to a 7-0 victory.
The Falcons backed up those three wins with two wins last week.
Katzman, Hooper and the Behnke sisters swept through the singles matches in the wins over Lynbrook and Gunn. Lightbody and Pisani won at No. 1 doubles in each Saratoga victory.
The Westmont girls' volleyball team swept to a pair of impressive victories last week in the Santa Teresa Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League, beating Gunderson 15-9, 15-11, 15-8 and pulling out a come-from-behind 11-15, 8-15, 15-5, 15-12, 15-10 win over Valley Christian.
"We had a heckuva match," Westmont coach Jay Bennett said after the win over Valley Christian.
The Warriors fell behind 2-0, but won the last three straight games to pull out the win in the match.
Lindsay Hahn recorded 29 kills, six digs and four aces to lead the Warriors to the win, and Rachael Esperanza had four kills, eight digs and an unbelieveable 50 assists.
Tara Minaee came through with seven kills, 10 digs, and three aces in the win and Melissa Taylor added five kills and four blocks.
Westmont served 20 aces, including eight by Taylor, in the win over Gunderson to open the week. Taylor had three kills and four digs to go with her aces, and she served 10 straight points to finish off the first game. Hahn had seven kills and four aces in the win, and Minaee added four aces.
The two wins left the Warriors 3-1 in league play and 9-6 for the year.
Prospect leads the division with a 4-0 record, beating Valley Christian 15-12, 10-15, 15-13, 12-15, 15-5 and Independence 15-12, 15-10, 15-4 last week. The Panthers are 7-3 for the year.
Saratoga lost a pair of matches in the De Anza Division of the SCVAL, falling 15-12, 13-15, 15-1, 15-3 to Homestead and 15-3, 5-15, 7-15, 15-10, 15-2 to Cupertino. The Falcons are 0-4 in the division and 5-13 for the year.
The Saratoga girls' water polo team lost a couple of division heartbreakers last week, but the Falcons battled back to finish fourth in the St. Francis Invitational.
Saratoga edged Santa Teresa 13-12 to gain a spot in the tournament semifinals, but lost 12-5 to finalist Menlo-Atherton to slip into the third-place game against host St. Francis.
The Falcons dropped a 13-4 decision to the Lancers despite two goals each by Shannon Moore and Diane Ramos.
Moore had poured in 17 goals in two games during the week, but the Falcons dropped back-to-back Santa Clara Valley League decisions to Los Gatos and Monta Vista.
Moore tossed in nine goals and Cari Cowdrey added one, but the Falcons lost 16-10 to Los Gatos.
Moore came back with eight goals, but Saratoga dropped a tight 14-13 decision to Monta Vista.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, October 9, 1996.
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