It is tough enough to win a national title in any sport, but to get to the top of the mountain, then come back the next year and win it all again is just short of impossible.

That’s just what the Amador Valley Competition Cheer team did recently at the USA Spirit Nationals in Anaheim, where they once again captured the Varsity Show Medium Division title.

Last year they charged from behind to win the title while this time it was all about holding on from the lead and beating out Santa Fe High (Whittier, CA) to take home the trophy.

The Dons were led by captains Sam Richards and Megan Jagoe along with Seniors Savanah Harper and Lauren Moore.

Amador/Foothill volleyball

In what has become one of the top Amador/Foothill rivalries, the boys’ volleyball teams battled once again, with the Dons pulling out the 25-23, 25-18, 19-25, 26-24 win.

It was the first loss of the season for the Falcons and kept the Dons right behind Foothill.

The Dons edged out a 25-23 win in the first set and then coasted to a 25-18 win in the second.

The Falcons' grit was on full display as they rallied to take the third set, 25-19. The fourth set went back and forth as the Dons took a big early lead before Foothill went into gear again and stormed back to take a 24-22 lead.

The Dons rallied back as Luke Melvin served out the match and Tyler Homes came up with a huge block to help Amador secure a 26-24 nail-biter.

The Dons were paced by Nate Clinton (24 kills), Max Riter (11 kills, 14 digs), Parker Brookhart (11 digs) while Colin Bowers and Bryce Nohava effectively shared the workload at setter (23 and 19 assists, respectively).

For Foothill, the highlights came from Landen Meonske (26 assists, 10 digs, 7 kills), Kayan Vohra (10 kills, 3 blocks), and Zach Seraj (13 receptions, 11 digs, 6 kills).

In the second match of the week for Amador, the Dons fell to Dublin 25-23, 20-25, 25-15 and 27-25.

In defeat, the Dons were led by Clinton (20 kills, 7 digs) Bryce Nohava (8 kills, 25 assists and 11 digs) and Spencer Thiel with three blocks in the middle.

In the second match of the week the Falcons came through with a 25-21, 25-22, 25-16 win over Granada.

Highlights came from Yun Bae (13 assists, 6 digs), Noah Mitzenmacher (12 digs, 3 assists), and Cameron Hitchan (3 kills, 3 blocks).

Amador swimming

The Dons hosted Livermore on March 23 and took home the wins in all four divisions.

The varsity girls won 134-35, with the varsity boys bringing home a 139-23 win. On the JV level the Dons took the girls 123-41, with the boys winning 133-24.

Some of the highlights are as follows:

Varsity Girls: Rylee Hutchinson (Fr.) won the 200 and 500 free in NCS automatic qualifying times of 1:56.44 and 5:06.10, respectively. She was also part of the winning 200 medley (swam free leg) and 400 free relays.

Varsity Boys: Hayden Tupper (Sr.) won the 200 free in NCS automatic qualifying time of 1:45.14. He also won the 100 fly in 53.47, which is three-tenths off of NCS automatic qualifying time. He was also part of the winning 200 medley and led off the winning 400 free relay with an NCS automatic qualifying time of 47:62.

JV Girls: Alissa Wang (Fr.) won the 200 and 500 free, 2:13.50 (time was good enough to finish third in the varsity race) and 6:18.78.

JV Boys: Will Campbell (So.) won the 200 and 500 free, 2:06.29 and 5:51.42 respectively and was part of the winning 200 and 400 free relays.

Amador/Foothill tennis

In another great Amador/Foothill match, the Dons knocked off the Falcons 6-3.

Winners for Amador were Bryan Park, James Heeter, Gavin Jia, and Vincent Ma in singles. The Dons took two of the three doubles matches with Roy Kim/Anuraag Aravindan and Vikram Murali/Nigel Purvis getting the wins.

The Falcons got a win in doubles from Anas Joyo/Alex Thompson, while getting singles wins from Juvan Kristna and Michael Liu.

Amador boys’ lacrosse

The Dons split their two games last week losing to Northgate, but then rallying with a win over Granada.

In the 10-9 loss to Northgate Owen Heck (1 goal, 4 assists) and Will Coultrip (4 goals) led the offense.

In the 9-7 win over Granada, Will Coultrip (4 goals, 1 assist), Brady Macisaac (2 goals, 2 assists), and Sebastian Diligent (3 goals) led the offense.

Matteo Gervasoni (4 ground balls collected and 5 forced turnovers) and Noah Awad (5 ground balls collected and 1 forced turnover) led the defensive effort.

Grant Thompson won over 50 percent of his faceoffs, and goalie Alec Smith made 10 saves in the winning effort.