Saratoga News Falcons finish week with tennis win Not so bad after all By Dick Sparrer A week that didn't start out so well finished up not so bad for the girls tennis team at Saratoga. The Falcons were upset 4-3 by Monta Vista to open the week, but they battled back to whip Los Gatos 6-1 later in the week. The split left Saratoga 6-2 in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League. Senior singles star Camille Behnke started the Falcons on the road to the victory over the Wildcats with an impressive 6-0, 6-0 win in the No. 1 spot. Sophomore Amanda Wise posted a 6-3, 6-3 victory at No. 3 singles and soph Sheetal Modi won 6-1, 6-1 at No. 4 singles. Saratoga followed up singles play with a sweep in doubles competition. Seniors Angi Chua and Nancy Walker teamed for a 6-2, 6-3 win at No. 1 doubles for the Falcons. Eileen Allen and Kate Pisani, a couple of talented sophomores, combined for a 6-2, 6-3 win at No. 2 doubles, and freshman Jessica Cone joined forces with junior Sheila Chako for a 6-0, 7-6 victory at No. 3 doubles. Things hadn't gone quite as well for the Falcons earlier in the week against the Matadors. Modi won 7-5, 7-6 at No. 4 singles, but that was the only singles win Saratoga could manage on the day. The Chua-Walker team pulled out a 6-1, 6-4 win at No. 1 doubles, and Allen and Pisani combined for a 6-2, 6-3 victory at No. 2. Saratoga was to host St. Francis in a league match on Oct. 22 and the Falcons will head to Los Altos for a 3:30 p.m. match on Oct. 24. Girls Volleyball The Saratoga girls volleyball team ran its record to 5-2 in league play with an easy 15-9, 15-6, 16-14 win over Santa Clara last week. The Falcons, now 12-6 for the year, share second place in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League with Cupertino. Gunn leads the division with a 7-0 record and the Falcons and Pioneers share second with 5-2 marks. The Falcons had opened the week with a 15-9, 15-8, 7-15, 15-12 win over the King's Academy in a nonleague match. Water Polo Cari Dowdrey poured in four goals, and Kim Ashburn and Stacy Oberhauser added two apiece to lead the Saratoga girls water polo team to a 10-6 win over Mountain View last week. The win helped the Falcons jump to 5-0 in the El Camino Division of the SCVAL. The Saratoga boys improved to 3-1 in the De Anza Division of the SCVAL with a tight 19-18 overtime win over Cupertino. Gur Doitel tossed in six goals, and Jordan Jones and Jason Batra added four goals apiece in the victory. Chris Cappello and Collin Mitchell dropped in two goals each, and Omar Malik added one. The clubs were tied 5-5 after a period, but Saratoga outscored Cupertino 7-4 in the second to take a 12-9 lead at the half. They matched goals in the third, but the Pioneers edged the Falcons 5-2 in the fourth to tie it 16-16 by the end of regulation. The clubs each scored in the first two overtime periods before the Falcons ultimately hit the game-winner in the final extra stanza. Field Hockey There weren't many goals for the Saratoga girls field hockey team last week--one, to be exact. But that was all the Falcons needed to pull out a win and a tie in the Santa Teresa Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League. Kristy Mincey powered home a second-half goal on a penalty stroke to help the Falcons pull out a thrilling 1-0 win over Willow Glen to open the week. Saratoga came back to battle Monta Vistda to a scoreless tie two days later. The Falcons are now 4-1-1 in division play and 6-2-1 for the year. [ Back to Contents Page | Saratoga News Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Saratoga News, October 21, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.