Acorns entered Thursday night’s showdown with Westmont in tie
for second place in Mt. Hamilton
San Jose – Live Oak grabbed its fifth straight Blossom Valley Athletic League Mount Hamilton Division match by beating Piedmont Hills in four games Tuesday.
The win pulled the Acorns (8-8, 5-2) into a second-place tie with Westmont, pending the results of Thursday’s home match against the Warriors of which the results were not available at presstime.
“I don’t know if Westmont’s going to go in there thinking they’re going to walk over us because they walked over us last time,” Live Oak coach Laura Coleman said before Thursday’s match. “I think we’ve improved a lot, we should be able to play them much tougher.”
Westmont beat Live Oak when the two teams battled in the league opener earlier this season and Thursday’s match marked the beginning of second round play.
Senior Katerina Cinkova led the way against Piedmont Hills with 13 kills.
The Acorns started out strong with a 25-14 win in the first game.
“The first game, we took it easily because they could serve-receive,” Coleman said. “Talia (Reyes-Ortiz) had about a gazillion aces. They couldn’t take her jump serve.”
The Pirates, who fell to 0-7 in league play with the loss, battled back in the second game and earned a hard-fought 29-31 win.
“We were both playing really well. The momentum shifted and their crowd got into it,” Coleman said. “We made a couple errors in the end.”
But Live Oak took back control in the third game by winning 25-11 and carried that momentum into a 25-18 win in the fourth game to take the match.
“They played us much better than a team with a record of 0-7,” Coleman said.
The Acorns will have a chance to avenge their only other league loss when they travel to face Leland on Tuesday at 6pm.
“They want revenge,” Coleman said. “They want to prove to them that they can play.”
Boys Water Polo
Morgan Hill – Live Oak took a 10-2 lead in to halftime and coasted to a 18-5 win over Lincoln in BVAL Mount Hamilton Division action Wednesday.
The Acorns improved to 11-8 overall and 2-1 in league play as they prepare to host the South Valley Polofest beginning today.
Kyle Fast led Live Oak with four goals and Patrick Powers and Eric McCombs both scored three times in the win. Sam Cretcher, Mike Wu and Alex Sennert each added to goals.
The Acorns will open up tournament play by facing off with former Tri-Country Athletic League rival San Benito today at 3:15pm.
Girls Water Polo
Morgan Hill – The Acorns improved to 2-1 in league play by coasting past Santa Teresa 13-3 on Wednesday.
Laura Shope fired in five goals to lead the way for Live Oak and Sarah Sendejas and Katie Rick each had two goals to help beat the Saints.
The Acorns held a 7-2 advantage at halftime and kept the pressure on by outscoring Santa Teresa 6-1 over the final two periods.
Report any results by visiting www.morganhilltimes.com and clicking on the link on the right side of the page or by calling (408) 779-4106 ext. 203.
