Also, LO girls volleyball suffers first league loss
MORGAN HILL
Sobrato has three players headed for next month’s Blossom Valley Athletic League girls tennis tournament after top single Alexis Whitaker placed third in the Mount Hamilton Division Singles Tournament, and Ali Pecsok and Alexa Watanabe did the same in the doubles bracket.
Whitaker played extremely well to beat Emma Batmazian 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 to take bronze. Watanabe and Pecsok, the Bulldogs’ Nos. 2-3 singles during the regular season, defeated Leigh’s Stephanie Pinson and Jessica Reistra 7-5, 6-2 in the third-place match.
Sobrato beat Westmont 6-1 in the final regular-season game to finish its first Mount Hamilton campaign an impressive 9-5. The Bulldogs open play in the BVAL team playoffs at Leland High School at 3:15 p.m. Wednesday against Hill.
Live Oak’s team put together a nice finish to an otherwise rough season by advancing five players to the Santa Teresa Division Tournament semifinals — the highest total for any team.
Acorns top singles Elena McElheny took fourth, followed by the doubles team of Amy Freitas and Melrose Ecura, who lost 7-5, 6-3 to Live Oak teammates Nicole LaJeunesse and Stephanie Nowlen in the third-place match.
LaJeunesse and Nowlen advanced to the the BVAL Singles/Doubles Tournament, which begins Nov. 2 at Mount Pleasant High School.
Live Oak finished 3-10 as a team but lost many of its matches by single-digit margins, including a 4-3 loss to Santa Teresa champion Yerba Buena (13-0) to end the regular season.
Against the Aztec Warriors, Nowlen won her match 6-3, 6-1 against a girl who was 11-0 going in; Freitas prevailed 4-6, 7-5, 10-8, and Ecura triumphed 7-5, 6-4. Yerba Buena’s doubles teams swept to complete a 16-0 season.
GIRLS VOLLEYBALL
Amid their best season in years, Live Oak continues to have problems at home against Westmont.
In a showdown Thursday between the first- and second-place teams in the Mount Hamilton, the Warriors continued a trying trend for Live Oak by handing the Acorns their first loss in league play 25-20, 25-15, 26-28, 25-21.
Live Oak (9-1 league), which received 14 kills from Gabi Cinkova, remains a game ahead of Westmont and Willow Glen heading into today’s 6:30 p.m. game against Leigh.
The Sobrato Bulldogs are also at home today against Pioneer after losing in three sets to Santa Teresa front-runner Piedmont Hills on Thursday.
FIELD HOCKEY
The first-place Acorns bounced back from their second loss in the Santa Teresa to edge winless Homestead 1-0 on the strength of senior Michaela Swenson’s goal in the first half.
GIRLS GOLF
Live Oak and Sobrato golfers will play host to the BVAL Finals Individual Tournament at Coyote Creek Golf Club, starting at 11 a.m. Wednesday. There are eight teams in the event.
The top finishers will qualify for the Central Coast Section Tournament.
