Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Safe Slide: Willow Glen's Daniel Rice dives safely back into first in action against Piedmont Hills last week. The Rams went on to blank the Pirates 6-0 in the Santa Teresa Division game.
Phan, Lyons win division title
Volleyball team moves into CCS playoffs
By Dick Sparrer
The season has ended for most of the players on the tennis courts at Willow Glen, but not for seniors Minh Phan and Chris Lyons.
The two will advance to the Blossom Valley Athletic League finals May 14-16 in hopes of qualifying for the Central Coast Section tournament.
Phan and Lyons won their BVAL berth by winning in the doubles title in the tourney for teams in the Santa Teresa Division of the league.
The Willow Glen twosome beat a pair from Valley Christian 6-4, 6-4 to win the Santa Teresa crown. They had opened with a 6-4, 6-0 win over a team from Andrew Hill, then beat at Yerba Buena duo 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 to get into the finals.
Nick Burggraff and Erik Bursch each wrapped up their senior seasons in impressive fashion by finishing third in doubles play in the division tournament.
The two opener with a 6-3, 6-1 win over a YB pair, but then lost 6-2, 6-4 to the Valley Christian twosome that Lyons and Phan would beat in the finals.
Burggraff and Bursch battled back from the loss, though, with a 7-6 (7-3), 7-5 win over a Yerba Buena team to clinch third.
In singles play, senior Jose Ocampo nailed a fourth-place finish at the finals. He opened with a 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 win over a Hill opponent, but then lost 6-0, 6-0 to a Valley player in the semifinals and 6-1, 1-6, 6-1 to Prospect's Abraham Jama in the third-place match.
The Rams had finished second in the team standings in the Santa Teresa Division, and that was good for a CCS playoff berth. But Willow Glen was quickly eliminated in the section tournament, losing 6-1 to Palo Alto.
"Three of our players were missing," said Willow Glen coach Don DuShane, who entered the match without the services of seniors Mike Nguyen, Loc Nguyen and Nhan Vo.
Bursch was the lone winner for the Rams in the match, taking a 6-4, 3-4 (retired) win at No. 4 singles.
Willow Glen was forced to forfeit at No. 2 singles and No. 2 doubles and had to pull sophomore De Phan up from the junior varsity to fill in at No. 3 doubles.
Ocampo lost 6-1, 6-0 at No. 1 singles and Burggraff lost 6-1, 6-1 at No. 2.
M. Phan and Lyons dropped a 6-2, 6-1 decision at No. 1 doubles and D. Phan and Tri Vuu lost 6-0, 6-1 at No. 3.
For M. Phan, the loss was his first of the season. The Willow Glen senior entered the match with a 21-0 season record.
Rams rolling
The Willow Glen baseball team continued to roll through the 2001 season with two more wins last week, one in division play and one in a nonleague game against a higher division club.
The Rams blanked second-place Piedmont Hills 6-0 last week to push their record to 13-1 in the Santa Teresa Division with just two games left to play. The Rams will visit Independence on May 8 and host Prospect on May 10 in a couple of 3:30 p.m. league games, but Willow Glen has already wrapped up the division championship.
It marks the second straight division crown for the Rams. They finished first in the West Valley Division a year ago.
Prior to beating Piedmont Hills, the Rams had knocked off Santa Teresa of the Mount Hamilton Division 13-5 in a nonleague game that was a make up for an April 20 rainout.
The two wins helped the Rams improve to 17-4 for the year as they now look ahead to the Central Coast Section playoffs.
Senior right hander Matt Durkin went the distance to toss a three-hit shutout in the 6-0 league win over the Pirates. Durkin struck out 13 in the game as he pushed his season record to 5-2.
Senior outfielder Luis Pacheco had three hits and senior catcher Alvin Rideau had two hits to knock in two runs.
Earlier in the week, Bobby Hobbs picked up the mound win in Willow Glen's 13-5 win over the Saints. Hobbs, now 8-0 for the year, struck out 10 in the game.
Senior left fielder Gabe Candelaria tripled and singled twice in the win and senior third baseman Daniel Rice doubled and singled twice to drive in two runs.
Jared Jeffrey, another senior outfielder, had two hits in the win. Scott Wallberg tripled home two runs and Pacheco doubled in a pair. Pete Watts also doubled for the Rams.
Rams off to CCS
The Central Coast Section volleyball playoffs begin this week, and the Willow Glen boys team will be in the middle of the action.
The Rams, 13-19 for the year after a solid 7-3 showing in the rugged Mount Hamilton Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League, will open the playoffs on the road when they visit Soquel (19-5) on May 10, 7 p.m. The winner advances to the quarter-final round on May 12, 5 p.m., at Santa Clara High School against the Prospect (19-2)-Leland (23-5) first-round winner.
Willow Glen is coming off of a tough 15-1, 15-3, 15-11 loss to Leland in league play. The defeat was just the third in 10 league matches for the Rams.
The Rams had outlasted a tough Westmont squad 17-15, 15-14, 4-15, 15-12 earlier in the week. Mark Sarinana hammered down an impressive 21 kills in the win over the Warriors, who are also CCS playoff-bound with an 11-8 season record.
In other recent action, Sarinana had 12 kills for Willow Glen is a hard-earned 6-15, 15-6, 15-10, 15-2 win over Oak Grove, and Mason Zinniel had 11 kills in a 15-10, 4-15, 15-12, 15-5 win over Leigh.
Puthoff seventh
Willow Glen's Mike Puthoff fired a 4-over par 76 to finish seventh overall in individual championships at the Blossom Valley Athletic League golf finals held last week at San Jose Municipal Golf Course.
The senior was 2-over on the front nine with a 38 and matched that on the back nine to wind up with a 76 overall.
Willow Glen, California Since 1992
