The Sunnyvale Sun
Sports
Homestead girls in the volleyball running in tough De Anza circuit
By MIKE BARNHART
A year removed from an unbeaten run to the El Camino Division championship, an outstanding overall record and a win in the Central Coast Section Division I playoffs, Homestead's girls volleyball team is at it again.
This season, though, in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League's De Anza Division, the competition is stronger and the footing on the playoff path more treacherous.
At the close of business last week, five of the seven De Anza teams had winning records in division play. Homestead and Saratoga shared fourth place at 4-3, just one match behind first-place Los Gatos (5-2) and one-half behind Palo Alto (5-3) and Los Altos (5-3).
The Mustangs were looking to move up in the standings when they traveled to Palo Alto on Oct.17. The Vikings had beaten Homestead in five games in an exciting division opener back on Sept. 19, but the Mustangs avenged that defeat by scoring a 2-1 win over Paly in the championship match of the Del Mar Classic tourney finals.
After taking part in the Milpitas Spikefest Tournament Oct. 21, coach John Milkovich's Mustangs will resume division play at Gunn (2-4) on Oct. 25, one night before hosting Los Gatos. Homestead hopes to even the score with the Wildcats, who needed five games to beat the Mustangs on Oct. 2.
Homestead bounced back from the Los Gatos loss by sweeping Gunn, 3-0, then scoring five straight wins and the championship at the Del Mar tourney. The Mustangs beat Aragon, The King's Academy, Mountain View and Prospect before topping Palo Alto in the title match, 25-23, 27-29, 15-13.
Homestead extended its winning streak to eight matches with two De Anza Division victories last week.
First, they used 21 kills from sophomore Katherine Fischer to dump Saratoga in four games. The Falcons had entered the contest in first place with a 4-1 mark. Two nights later, juniors Lauren Hoopes and Diana Moberg both had seven kills in a 3-0 victory over Mountain View (0-7).
Middle blocker Lauren Gniadek and opposite hitter Kelly Verstegen are the lone seniors on the Mustangs' 12-player roster. Sophomores Melissa Cheng and Nicole Radish are the setters, while junior Rebecca Gularte and sophomore Ellizabeth Case are defensive specialists. Juniors Justine Wales and Allie Fickett, along with freshman Tori Carroll, join Gniadek as middle blockers.
Milkovich has two assistant coaches, Lillian Hom and Gary Carroll.
While Homestead has had some success in the De Anza Division, Fremont is searching for some in the El Camino circuit. Although the Firebirds finished the week with an overall record of 7-13, none of their victories had come within the division.
The powerful hitting of Firebirds Alicia Tikalsky, Grace Ilaoa and Amy Wanninger was impressive against division leader Monta Vista (7-0) on Oct. 11, but the Matadors won the match 3-0.
After dropping the first game, 25-23, Fremont fell behind 8-1 in the second, but never gave up. Instead, the hitters and setter Amy Tran helped the Firebirds take a 16-14 lead. Later, with the game deadlocked at 20, the Matadors scored the next five points to earn a 25-20 win.
Fremont also battled hard in game three. Using several kills from Tikalsky and solid serving and passing from Amy Chwa, Fremont built early leads of 10-4 and 14-10. After several ties, the last at 16, the division leaders ran off four straight points and went on to another 25-20 triumph.
Two nights earlier, Fremont rallied from a two-game deficit against Wilcox and forced a fifth game, but fell in the fifth, 16-14.
Other Fremont team members are Cathy Nguyen, Duyen Tran and Stephanie Chagoya.
Oliver wins at Preview
Homestead runner Nick Oliver was a grade-level winner at the SCVAL Preview, a 2.95-mile cross country race at Crystal Springs in Belmont. All of the league's schools except Los Gatos participated in the event, which was hosted by Palo Alto.
Oliver, who ran 16:23 to beat out 118 other 10th-grade boys, was ninth overall in the combined boys competition. Fremont's Elijah Carrillo (16:51) was eighth among seniors and 12th overall.
In the freshman boys race, Homestead's Mike Louthan (17:25) claimed sixth out of 101 entrants.
Four Homestead runners finished among the top 11 sophomore girls. Kristin Peanasky ran 20:00 for seventh, three seconds and one place ahead of Emily Evans. Laura Pochowsky (20:04) was 10th and Rachel Moll (20:30) 11th.
In the junior girls race, Peiley Lau of Wilcox was third in 20:28. Among freshman girls, Alissa Hayes of Homestead placed third in 21:32.
Lindsey's 8 lifts Fremont
Fremont senior Aimee Lindsey broke loose for eight goals during her team's 20-2 water polo victory over Santa Clara on Oct. 9.
Julia Sterling fired in five goals and Abby McNeil had three for the Firebirds, who improved their unbeaten El Camino Division record to 9-0. Chelsea Lofland added two goals and Sara DeCastro and Nicole Sutherlin had one in the big win.
Homestead rebounded from a tough 6-1 loss to second-place Lynbrook (7-1) to edge Cupertino 6-5. Jenny Coryell scored four goals and Emily Pool two, as the Mustangs evened their El Camino record at 5-5.
In El Camino boys play, Michael Bursky scored three goals and Tony Rhodes had two leading Fremont to a 7-6 win over Santa Clara.
