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The 4th Grade Girls’ Catholic Community of Pleasanton basketball team recently capped off an extraordinary season, finishing undefeated with a 10-0 record in the West Diablo/Tri-Valley Gold league.
This victory marks the first time in over a decade that a CCOP girls’ team has secured a league championship.
In addition to their perfect league play, the team remained undefeated in tournament action, going 6-0 across the Thanksgiving and Christmas Top Flight tournaments.
The team’s success also extended to individual accolades as two players, Davina Murphy and Reiss Steinle, qualified for the state level in the Knights of Columbus free throw competition for the 9-year-old and 10-year-old divisions, respectively.
Foothill boys’ volleyball
The first few weeks of play for the Falcons are in the books, and there’s been some ups and downs.
Last week, the Falcons lost their East Bay Athletic League opener by a 3-1 final to Granada but then rallied back to take a 3-0 win over Dougherty Valley.
Foothill also took the Silver bracket at the Livermore tournament, going 4-1 for the day.
The wins came over Redwood Christian (2-0), Acalanes (2-0), Freedom (2-1) and El Cerrito (2-0). The lone loss of the tournament came to Washington (2-0).
The tournament highlights came from: Josh Salonga (45 assists, 26 kills, 24 digs), Jeremy Sun (31 assists, 30 kills, 22 service pts), Thomas Paduraru (16 kills, 8 blocks), Trey Elson (15 kills, 10 blocks), Wynter Alexander (23 kills, .350 hitting 8 digs) and Grey Garofalo (57 assists, 14 digs).
A couple of weeks ago, the Falcons finished a tough preseason going 1-3 to head into league play.
They lost 3-1 to both James Logan and Castro Valley the first week. Foothill then came home to the small gym at Foothill – as the big gym is being upgraded.
The Falcons beat Mission San Jose 3-0 and then lost at Liberty 29-31, 19-25, 19-25.
Highlights came from: Salonga (17 assists, 8 kills, 3 aces v. MSJ), Sun (13 kills, 7 digs at Liberty), Paduraru (9 kills, 3 blocks v. Mission) and Garofalo (33 assists, 9 digs at Castro Valley).
SRV soccer teams win state titles
The improbable road run to a state title became a reality last Friday night when the boys’ and girls’ teams of San Ramon Valley claimed CIF State Division II soccer championships.
The girls’ side went through the tournament paced by an insane defense. The No. 7 seed beat No. 2 seed Vista del Lago in a shootout after a 1-1 regulation final.
That was followed by a trip to Santa Rosa where the Wolves took down No. 3 Cardinal Newman 1-0. That put the team into the NorCal final where they beat No. 4 Mitty, also by a 1-0 final.
The win advanced the Wolves into the inaugural CIF State Championship game in Sacramento.
In the final the Wolves faced Westlake from Southern California, a team that had not allowed a goal in the tournament.
The two sides battled through regulation without a goal being scored and into overtime they went, where freshman Morgan Van Puffelen scored the game-winner for San Ramon Valley. The freshman also scored the lone goal in the regional final game against Mitty.
The boys started the CIF NorCal regionals as the unlikely No. 8 seed in the eight-team field.
They went to Clovis and took out top-seeded Clovis 4-1 to start the tournament. Next up was a trip to Napa to take on No. 4 Vintage High, and the Wolves came through with a 2-1 win to advance to the NorCal finals.
This time it was the shortest drive of the tournament when the Wolves traveled to No. 6 Berkeley and a 2-1 win there sent the team to the state title game.
Last Friday it was a drive up 80 to get to Natomas High to face Mira Monte of Bakersfield. The Lions came in 25-1-3, but they were blitzed by the Wolves as SRV came away with the 4-1 win.
Editor’s note: Dennis Miller is a contributing sports writer for Embarcadero Media Foundation’s East Bay Division. To contact him about his Pleasanton Preps column, email acesmag@aol.com.
