Photograph by George Sakkestad
Cupertino's Margaret Le helped the Pioneers to an upset win over Homestead in El Camino Division girls' volleyball action last week.
By DICK SPARRER
Things were going rather well for the Homestead girls' volleyball team.
The Mustangs were cruising along with a perfect record in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League, and they were coming off of a second-place finish in the rugged Berkeley Tournament.
What they didn't know was that the Cupertino Pioneers were laying low, preparing an El Camino ambush.
The Pioneers upset the Mustangs 15-12, 15-9, 15-11 to even things up a little in the El Camino Division.
The loss dropped Homestead to 6-1 in division play and Cupertino improved to 5-2.
"We played Homestead awfully tough," Cupertino coach Marty Redman said after the Pioneers' three-game sweep over the Mustangs. "And they were undefeated in league."
Senior Amelie Williams came through with 15 points and 15 assists to play a key role in the victory. Sophomore Erica Boss supported with 14 digs and senior Gina Paradiso added nine digs.
"Beating Homestead was great," he added. "Unfortunately, we were so high after that game that we didn't play well against Wilcox."
Cupertino finished with scores of 15-2, 15-5, 15-13 to slip to 5-3 in league play. The Chargers are 6-2.
The Pioneers, now 16-7 for the year, had beaten Milpitas and Santa Clara a week earlier. Boss served 19-of-21 with 11 points, and Zuccaro served 22-of-22 and had 18 kills and 18 assists against the Trojans, and Margaret Le, Jessalyn Espiritu and Lisa Dibbell each served 11-of-11 against the Bruins.
Mustangs second
Homestead was coming off of a second-place finish at the Berkeley Tournament, losing 16-14, 15-8 to Shasta in the finals.
Melissa Coombes, Erin Norcia, Donna Tripiano and Kasia Lesiak sparked the Mustangs to wins over Mission San Jose, Berkeley, St. Ignatius and Redwood in the tournament.
Homestead lost 15-9, 16-14 to Shasta to open the tourney, but beat Mission San Jose 15-6, 16-14 and Berkeley 15-13, 15-13 in a couple of tight matches. The Mustangs whipped St. Ignatius in two straight, but had to go three games to beat Redwood 2-15, 15-13, 16-14 to advance to the finals.
The Mustangs came back after the loss to Cupertino last week to beat Fremont 15-3, 15-12, 15-8 to jump to a division-leading 7-1 record and to 19-7 for the year.
Fremont had opened the week losing a 15-2, 15-5, 9-15, 15-5 decision to Milpitas. The Firebirds are now 0-8 in league play and 0-9 for the year.
Boys' water polo
The Lynbrook, Cupertino and Fremont water polo teams were all part of the recent Lynbrook Rosenbrock Tournament, but all three of the teams dived headfirst into some top-ranked opponents.
Cupertino lost an 11-10 heartbreaker to Palo Alto, but still managed to play for third place in the rugged tournament.
The Pioneers dropped another tough one in that game, losing 10-9 to Live Oak to settle for fourth in the tourney.
Mike West pumped in three goals and Derek De Muth and Matt Adkins added two goals each in the third-place game for the Pioneers. Todd Peterson and Brandon Robinson also scored for Cupertino.
Adkins and De Muth drilled three goals apiece, but the Pioneers lost the tough nod to Paly. West, Peterson, Justin Rahn and Ido Mor added goals for Cupertino in the game.
Fremont took on powerful Los Gatos and lost a 16-1 decision. Sophomore driver Steve Pon scored the lone goal for the Firebirds in the loss. The Wildcats went on to beat Palo Alto in the tournament championship game.
Lynbrook lost 13-6 to Leland despite four goals by Ross Morrill. Clifton Awuy and Scott Anderson also scored goals for the Vikings.
But the Vikings pulled out a 12-7 win over Fremont earlier in the tournament. Jason Gan buried four goals for the Vikings and Derek Chung added three. Jason Chavez chipped in with two goals and Morrill, Frank Liao and Anderson added one each.
The Vikings lost a 23-13 decision to Mountain View despite five goals by Morrill and four more by Awuy. Chavez, Chung, Gan and David Shin added a goal each for the Vikes.
Lynbrook lost a 15-3 nod to Palo Alto to slip to 0-4 in the De Anza Division of the SCVAL. Morrill fired in two goals and Awuy added one in the loss.
Firebirds win
The Fremont girls' tennis team pulled out a tight 4-3 win over Santa Clara in the El Camino Division of the SCVAL last week.
Nancy Bui posted a 6-2, 6-4 win at No. 1 singles and Tarang Saini won 6-2, 1-6, 6-2 at No. 3 singles to start the Firebirds on the road to the win.
Theresa Phan and Tri Minh Hoang clinched a 6-1, 7-5 win at No. 1 doubles and Nina Nguyen and Julie Huang closed out the win with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 three-set victory at No. 2 doubles.
The Firebirds improved to 3-5 in division play with the victory.
Lynbrook moved to 2-6 in the tough De Anza Division with a 6-1 victory over Monta Vista. Yvonne Tseng posted a 7-5, 6-0 win at No. 1 singles to start the Vikings on the road to the win.
Brie Ahern lost a tough nod at No. 1 singles in Homestead's 4-3 loss to Los Altos in De Anza Division play.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, October 23, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.