Also, Live Oak tandem takes third in Santa Teresa Division
Doubles Tournament
MORGAN HILL — The Lady Bulldogs are running away with the Santa Teresa Division girls water polo title, so fast that their scoreboard can’t keep up with them.
Sobrato improved to 8-0 in league play Thursday against Evergreen Valley, but the final tally is open to debate. The Bulldogs were leading 10-3 when the scoreboard at Sobrato’s pool went out.
“It was a good win, I guess,” Bulldogs coach Paul Harris said Friday.
If he sounded modest, it’s not because of the technical difficulties. Harris’ team is thinking beyond its remaining three division matches; the Bulldogs want to go to the Central Coast Section playoffs. To do so, they will have to sack the Santa Teresa outright and win their first game against the third-place team from the Mount Hamilton Division in the Blossom Valley Athletic League Tournament, which begins Nov. 5.
Should they do so, the Sobrato girls will advance farther than any water polo team in school history.
“That’s been our goal,” Harris said. “They’re happy to be in first and on pace to win this thing, but I’ve drilled CCS into them. They’re not satisfied. They want to keep getting better.”
Nika Burnett scored four goals, Melanie Jasper had three and Eve Okamura netted two for the Bulldogs, who will host Silver Creek at 3 p.m. Thursday. Their final league game is against Willow Glen, the only team that has challenged Sobrato this year, Harris said.
“They stifled our counter attack — our best offensive quality,” Harris said of their first meeting. “It was 3-0 after the first period and 3-1 midway through the second. We ended up winning 11-5 or 11-6.”
GIRLS TENNIS
Watanabe wins third straight division title
Top seed Alexa Watanabe beat Live Oak’s Marie Lewis 6-1, 6-0 in the Santa Teresa Division Singles Tournament final Friday to capture her third straight division championship.
The Sobrato junior won the same title in 2008, a year after winning the West Valley Division crown as a freshman. Watanabe’s run at Mount Pleasant High included a win over teammate Ali Pecsok, who bounced back to beat Oak Grove’s Eileen Doan 6-1, 6-4 for third place.
Watanabe and Lewis advanced to next month’s Blossom Valley Athletic League Tournament.
In doubles action Friday, Live Oak’s Mika Matsumoto and Elena McElheny placed third, upsetting the No. 4-seeded pair of Jenny Nguyen and Alisa Buyi of Yerba Buena 6-3, 4-6, 7-5. McElheny and Matsumoto were coming off a loss to the top-seeded tandem from Independence, Denna Pham and Cindy Do, who placed first.
Thursday the Lady Bulldogs earned their ninth victory in Santa Teresa Division play with a 6-1 win over Lincoln.
Watanabe and Pecsok defeated Arielle and Claire Straus, respectively, in straight sets at Lincoln High, and Allison Stoner prevailed in three games against Chelsea Cruickshank, 6-3, 2-6, 10-8, to help complete a singles sweep for Sobrato (9-2 league). Emerald Nguyen won by default versus Karen Valasquez of the Lions (3-8).
In doubles, Katie Martin and Allison Bettencourt beat Lincoln’s Gigi Graham and Rachel Bilchok 6-3, 6-2, and Sobrato’s Alicia Warren and Nemerta Cherra defeated Meera Vyas and Julie Zabalza 6-2, 6-1.
