The Matadors improved to 10-0 in the division with a 6-1 win over Los Gatos last week, the Falcons pushed their season record to 9-1 with wins over Wilcox (7-0) and Los Altos (6-1).

Only two matches remained in the regular season heading into play this week—and one of them was to be played on Tuesday on the Monta Vista courts.

The Falcons and Matadors were to collide with first place on the line. A win would have clinched the league title for Monta Vista, but a Saratoga victory would have forced a tie for first place with each squad taking a 9-1 record into the final match of the season.

Saratoga will wrap up league play on Oct. 27 on the road at Homestead before taking part in the SCVAL tournament Nov. 1-2.

Freshmen Kelly Lamble, Kara Wang and Lindsey Marsh have led the charge for the Falcons this season.

Lamble won 6-3, 6-0 at No. 1 singles and Frances Lin and Christina Low teamed for a 6-0, 6-2 win at No. 1 doubles in the shutout win over Wilcox last week. Lin and Low were also 6-1, 6-0 winners at No. 1 doubles against Los Altos.

Saratoga is 17-3 overall this season. Monta Vista beat the Falcons on the first trip through the league schedule, but Saratoga had toppled the Matadors in a non-league match earlier in the season, snapping their string of 71 straight victories.

Good win, tough loss

The water polo teams at Saratoga had very different experiences last week. The boys and girls games both played close games in De Anza Division play, but the boys won a 9-8 overtime thriller over Cupertino while the girls lost a 6-5 heartbreaker to the Pioneers.

Marko Pance peppered the nets with five goals and Kevin Shiuan added two to lead the Falcons to the 9-8 win over the Pioneers in the boys game. Brad Rollinson and Kevin Chin also scored for Saratoga.

The Falcons trailed 1-0 after a quarter and were down 4-3 at intermission. But they outscored the Pioneers 4-1 in the third to take a 7-5 lead into the final period. Cupertino blanked the Falcons 2-0 in the fourth to tie the game 7-7 and force the overtime.

In the extra period, Saratoga topped the Pioneers 2-1 to take the thrilling victory.

Courtney Nolet popped two goals and Hayes Hyde, Indran Cheng and Monica Tives added one each, but the Falcons came up a goal short against 'Tino.

The clubs had fought to a 2-2 tie after a period, were tied 3-3 at the half and were still tied 5-5 after three periods. But Cupertino managed a goal in the final quarter while holding Saratoga scoreless to clinch the close win.

Volleyball team falls

The Saratoga girls volleyball team dropped two matches last week to slip to 3-5 in the De Anza Division and to 14-16 for the season.

The Falcons lost 25-12, 25-17, 25-23 to Mountain View, then fell 25-14, 25-17, 25-15 to first-place Los Gatos. The Wildcats improved to 8-0 in the division and to 20-4 for the year with the win.

The Falcons faced a bye to open play this week but will be back on the court when they visit Palo Alto on Oct. 27. Saratoga closes out the regular season with a pair of home matches against Milpitas on Nov. 1 and Gunn on Nov. 3. All matches begin at 6:45 p.m.