Saratoga News

Sports

Falcons nail key volleyball win over Vikes

By Dick Sparrer

It's pretty clear that no team is going to catch Homestead this spring in the race for the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League boys volleyball championship. The Mustangs are already 10-0 and have beaten every team in the league at least once.

That leaves the rest of the teams in the circuit in a battle of positioning themselves well enough to earn a berth in the Central Coast Section playoffs.

The Saratoga boys find themselves in that positioning race, and they're doing a pretty good job of it.

The Falcons won three matches last week, including an important victory over Lynbrook that helped them move into sole ownership of fourth place in the league standings with a 6-4 record. Saratoga opened play last week with back-to-back wins over Wilcox and
Fremont, setting up a key match against Lynbrook on Thursday with fourth place on the line.

The Falcons, behind kill leaders Andy Capek and Mike Vetrone, rolled to a three-game win over the Vikings, 25-22, 25-15, 25-20, to knock the Vikings down to 4-6 in league play. Saratoga had lost to Lynbrook earlier in the SCVAL season.

Capek finished the night with eight kills and four blocks, and Vetrone had a big night with eight kills, four aces and 19 assists.

Jason Chun supported with seven kills and Kent Johnson came through with five kills, three blocks and 16 assists, and he also added a service ace on the match point.

The Falcons, 9-12 for the year, had breezed past Fremont (1-9) a day earlier, winning 27-25, 25-18, 25-18. Johnson and Vetrone had eight kills apiece to lead Saratoga and Doug Sabella nailed six aces with his jump serve. Capek topped the team with seven blocks and Johnson had five.

Saratoga opened the week with an easy 25-15, 25-7, 25-15 win over Wilcox (1-7). Vetrone had a team-high nine service aces to go with four kills and 10 assists, and Sabella had seven aces and four kills. Ammar Kothari had four kills and three aces and Capek added four kills.

Johnson had 10 assists to share the team lead with Vetrone and Shawyon Malek and Kevin Fongson were singled out for their passing.

The Falcons face a tough league test this week when they hit the road to visit Los Gatos on April 12, 6:45 p.m.

Netters blank Mats

After many years of intense battles with rival Monta Vista, the Saratoga tennis team rolled over the Matadors 7-0 last week to continue their winning ways in the De Anza Division of the SCVAL.

Senior Jeff Gast cruised to a 6-0, 6-0 win at No. 1 singles and senior Rohit D'Costa teamed with junior Abhinav Dev for a 2-6, 6-0, 6-3 win at No. 1 doubles.

The Falcons, 9-0 in the division, improved their season record to 14-2 with a 5-2 non-league win over Menlo School last week. Gast was an easy 6-1, 6-0 winner at No. 1 singles and D'Costa and Dev combined for a tough 5-7, 6-0, 10-2 win at No. 1 doubles.

Falcon swimmers win

Ben Hinshaw and Matt Murray were each double winners in individual events and each one competed for two winning relay teams to pace the Saratoga boys swimming team to a 90-80 win over Lynbrook last week.

Hinshaw breezed to wins in the 200-yard freestyle in 1:50.68 and the 500 free in 4:50.73 and M. Murray cruised to victories in the 200 individual medley in 2:01.94 and the 100 butterfly in 59.22 to lead the Saratoga boys.

The two also teamed with Marko Pance and Ryan Hinshaw for a win in the 200 free relay in 1:33.81, and the same foursome won the 400 free relay in 3:22.64. R. Hinshaw added a first in the 50 free in 23.15.

Arcadia placers

Senior Bradley Jacobs and sophomore Kierston Dolbec each placed for Saratoga at the prestigious Arcadia Invitational track and field meet held last weekend in Southern California.

Jacobs ran 9:33.10 to place fifth in the 3,200-meter run, and Dolbec topped the bar at 5-4 to tie for eighth in the high jump.

Hoffman 3-over

Steve Hoffman fired a 3-over par 37 to lead the Saratoga golf team to a 220-263 victory over Milpitas last week at the Saratoga Country Club. The Falcons ran their El Camino record to 8-1-1 later in the week with a 200-210 win over Wilcox.