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Upward Motion: Presentation volleyball players, left to right, Sarah Nadler, Juliana Fernandez, Katie Turley-Molony and Paris Raissinia celebrate winning a point in a win over El Dorado.
Photograph by Paul Myers
Panthers play for volleyball title
Grelli, Phan ran at state meet
By Dick Sparrer
It was Mitty and Presentation battling it out for the championship all season long in the rugged girls volleyball race in the Mount Hamilton Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League.
And as November draws to an end, the two clubs are still battling for championships ... just not against each other.
The Panthers and Monarchs are in the running for Northern California titles, and they'll both be on the court this week trying to clinch those crowns.
Mitty (30-2), the champs in the Mount Hamilton Division, won the Central Coast Section Division I crown, and now the Monarchs will be going after the Northern California Division I title when they host Davis (31-9) Nov. 27, 7 p.m.
Presentation didn't win the Mount Hamilton title, but the Panthers did fight back to claim the CCS Division III championship. And now they've played their way into the NorCal Division III title match. Presentation (27-7) will host El Molina (28-4) in the big battle Nov. 27, 7 p.m.
The Panthers earned their place in the NorCal finals by beating El Dorado of Placentia and St. Francis of Sacramento in the preliminary rounds.
Presentation swept past El Dorado (16-8) in the first round of the NorCal playoffs, winning three straight games. Senior standout Sarah Nadler pounded down 18 kills to lead the Panthers to a 15-9, 15-3, 16-14 win over the Hawks.
The Panthers came back a match later to sweep past St. Francis 15-12, 16-14, 15-3 in the NorCal semifinals. Junior outside hitter Paris Raissinia stared for the Panthers with 17 kills. Senior middle blocker Adriana LeBaron supported with 14 kills in the win and senior outside hitter Taylor Rayfield added seven.
Long Strides: Willow Glen's Ngoan Phan ran at the state meet.
Photograph by Tsutomu Fujita
Grelli third
Presentation sophomore Michelle Grelli capped an outstanding season with a third-place finish in Division III at the state cross country meet on the 3.1-mile course at Woodward Park in Fresno.
Grelli had won the BVAL title by running 17:56 on the 2.95-mile course at Crystal Springs in Belmont, then backed that up by running 17:31 on the same course to take the CCS Division III title.
She came back last Saturday to run 18:44 to finish third in Division III at the state meet, finishing just 20 seconds off the winning pace set by Jenna Timinski of San Dieguito High.
Grelli's time was third-best among runners from the CCS. Gunn's Ruth Graham ran 18:08 to finish first in Division II and Casey Nevitt of Aptos was sixth in Division I in 18:33.
Willow Glen sophomore Ngoan Phan made the most of his first trip to a state meet by running 59th in 17:21 in the Division III field. Phan had finished eighth in his division at CCS to earn the trip to state.
Phan was the first Willow Glen boy to ever qualify for the state meet.
"This was a very special achievement for Willow Glen," said Victor Santamaria, Rams head coach. "Since the inception of the cross country state meet in 1987, Willow Glen has not qualified an individual or team [in the boys division]."
The coach added that Willow Glen's best runners of all-time competed in the 1970s and '80s, before there was a state meet. The Rams did send a girls team to state meet competition in 1987.
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
