The Live Oak girls water polo team traveled to Independence High
School to participate in a two day tournament where they played the
top teams in the Central Coast Section and came away with a
fourth-place finish.
The Live Oak girls water polo team traveled to Independence High School to participate in a two day tournament where they played the top teams in the Central Coast Section and came away with a fourth-place finish.
This tournament is on the heals of the CCS playoffs, and coach Bryan Traverso says that his team has never looked better.
“This weekend you could just see the level of play pick up,” Traverso said. “The past few weeks our play has been up and down. The last three games of the tournament, they picked it up mentally.”
Friday, the girls split both games that they played
The Acorns opened up with a 5-4 win over Aptos. Even though the Acorns came away with the victory, Traverso said it was one of the sloppiest games they played.
Scoring for the Acorns were sophomore Ronnie Gautschi, senior Chelsea Lanning. Sophomore Amy Marshal also got into the mix with a goal.
The Acorn goal keeper, Danielle Maldonado, helped Live Oak win with eight saves in the game.
In the next game against Sacred Heart, the girls played strong, but still fell 14-3.
Traverso was pleased with how the girls played against the second ranked team in CCS.
“The game was closer than the score indicated,” Traverso said. “They played their best game in weeks. We came out flat to begin the game, but then we realized that we could play with those girls. That set the tone for the weekend. We could play with these people and not be intimidated.”
The three Acorn goals were split between Gautschi, Lanning and Junior Monica Cline.
Saturday the girls started the day with a 5-3 win against St. Ignatious. Lanning provided nearly all the scoring with four goals. Senior Cameron Bair added the fifth goal.
The Acorns played solid defensively, and Maldonado came up with seven saves.
“It was a great defensive game on our part,” Traverso said. “St. Ignatious is a very physical team, and we kept our composure and were able to pull it off.”
In the third place game, Live Oak was forced to play without their starting goalie and without senior Cameron Bair.
Despite the setback, the girls played hard and kept the game within reach before falling 8-7 to Presentation.
Lanning led the scoring with four goals, followed by Gautschi with two and sophomore Laura Melroy with one goal.
The tournament was a spring board for the upcoming playoffs, Traverso said.
“Playing in a tournament like this, before the big games was incredible,” Traverso said. “I’m really excited for the playoffs. I think we have some great momentum.”
The Acorns will begin the playoffs on Tuesday, Nov. 4.
Volleyball
The Acorn volleyball team traveled to Milpitas on Saturday to compete in the Milpitas tournament. Lack of consistent hitting in all the games except one gave Live Oak a seventh-place finish.
Although the hitting was off, the passing was strong, said coach Laura Coleman.
After the seeding games, Live Oak went up against Santa Cruz, who had beaten them earlier in the season.
The Acorns started out strong, but old habits of poor hitting came back to haunt them. Santa Cruz pulled ahead for the win.
In the next game, Live Oak worked to defeated Gunn High School in two games.
“We did really well,” Coleman said. “We won one easier than the other. It just seemed like Gunn gave up.”
Playing strong for Live Oak was Kristina Giacalone, who improved her game for the tournament.
“She had got into a slump, but she brought her confidence back up with great hitting,” Coleman said.
The girls will now look to Salinas on Wednesday. Currently Salinas is second in league and won the last matchup of the two teams.
“Last time we played, we lost in four games,” Coleman said. “If we can cut down on the unforced errors, they may still beat us, but it will be close.”
