But Lynbrook may have served up a problem for the Falcons in their bid for a title three-peat this spring.

Lynbrook pulled out a tight 25-21 win over Saratoga in league competition last week. The Vikings improved to 4-0 with the win while the Falcons slipped to 2-1. The loss followed a 38-6 Saratoga win over Gunn earlier in the week.

Junior Kevin Hur and freshman Emily Hur posted big wins for the Falcons in each of two matches last week.

K. Hur won 15-8, 15-9 in the boys No. 1 singles match against Lynbrook and E. Hur won 15-3, 15-0 in the girls No. 1 match, but it wasn't enough to lead the Falcons to the win over the Vikings.

K. Hur rolled 15-7, 15-5 in the boys No. 1 match and E. Hur won 15-5, 15-3 in the girls top match to lead the Falcons past Gunn.

Le looks at Emily Hur as a top prospect on the squad this season.

"This is her first year in high school badminton," said Le, "and she has great skills for a freshmen."

It's seniors Sophia Law and Vicki Liu and junior Teresa Lin who figure to be the top returners for Saratoga this season.

Law and Liu each return for a fourth varsity season. They finished second in the Central Coast Section in girls doubles as sophomores and third in CCS as juniors.

Lin, a co-captain along with Law and sophomore Caroline Cherng, is a top returner in singles action. She's back for her third varsity season at Saratoga, and last year finished second in the league and third in CCS in girls singles play.

Cherng returns for her second season after finishing fourth in girls singles at the league finals a year ago. She went on to finish fifth in singles at CCS.

The Falcons posted an 11-0-1 record to win the division championship last season. Lynbrook has now made a championship repeat a little challenging for Saratoga. The Falcons, who opened league play with a win over Palo Alto, were to host Cupertino on March 29 and will visit Monta Vista on March 31, 3:30 p.m. They'll close out the first round of the league season on April 5 at home against Wilcox, then start it all over again with a match against Palo Alto on April 7.

The important rematch with Lynbrook comes May 5 at Saratoga when the two teams will no doubt be playing for the league championship.

Baseball team splits

Senior Kyle Stoffers doubled home a pair of runs to lead the Saratoga baseball team to a 7-5 win over Santa Clara last week. The victory left the Falcons with a split for the week--they had lost 10-5 to Fremont two days earlier.

Saratoga jumped right on the Bruins for four runs in the first inning. Santa Clara answered with two in the second, and the clubs traded runs in the third.

The Falcons took that 5-3 lead into the seventh and scored two more. The Bruins picked up two of their own, but came up two runs short.

Peter Rutti was the winning pitcher for Saratoga, evening his record at 2-2. Jeff Roberts came on late in the game to claim his first save of the year.

Matt Wright and Ben Coggins each slugged home runs, but the Falcons lost to the Firebirds earlier in the week.

The split left the Falcons 3-4 in the El Camino Division and 3-6 for the year. Gunn and Homestead share the division lead with matching 4-1 records and Fremont (4-2) and Santa Clara (3-2) are in a virtual tie for third place. Lynbrook and Monta Vista are each winless at 0-4.

Saratoga was to host winless Monta Vista on March 29 and they'll visit first-place Homestead on March 31, 3:30 p.m.

Pienkost leads golfers

Shaun Pienkost fired an even-par 36 to lead the Saratoga golf team to a 200-223 win over Wilcox at the Santa Clara Golf and Tennis Center. The win helped the Falcons improve to 7-0-1 in the El Camino Division of the SCVAL.

Earlier in the week, Saratoga had tied Los Gatos 198-198 and beaten Monta Vista 198-218 in league action at the Saratoga Country Club. Pienkost covered the par-34 course with a 2-over par 36 to lead the Falcons.

Kaiser wins at No. 1

Saratoga junior Kevin Kaiser rolled to a 6-0, 6-3 win at No. 1 singles to lead the Falcons to a 6-1 win over Monta Vista in boys tennis action. The Falcons improved to 3-2 for the year with the victory.

Follmar a triple winner

Alicia Follmar won three events and the Falcons took the 4x400 relay on the road to a tight 64-63 win El Camino Division track and field win over Santa Clara last week. The Saratoga boys lost 93-33 to the Bruins the same day.

Follmar raced to wins in the 400 meters in 58.8 and the 200 in 26.6 and she also topped the high jump bar at 4-8 for a victory.

Megan Finley added a win in the 1,600 meters in 6:01.1 with Elisa Sabes first in the 800 in 2:27, Gwen Belomy tops in the 300 hurdles in 49.9, Annie Batanides a winner in the 3,200 in 13:13 and Amanda Van Hoesen first in the shot put at 32-6.5. The Falcons also took the 4x400 relay in 4:38.9.

The Saratoga girls are now 1-2 in the division.

The Falcons slipped to 0-3 in boys competition after suffering the 60-point loss to Santa Clara. Ken Douglas won a couple of events for Saratoga, taking the 800 in 2:10 and the 1,600 in 4:36.9. Danny Wallace added a first in the shot put at 39-9 and the Falcons won the 4x400 relay in 4:03.