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As we rapidly approach the end of the school year, we are now seeing every spring sport enter the postseason as baseball and softball face the East Bay Athletic League playoffs this week. Volleyball and lacrosse enter week two of the North Coast Section playoffs, with swimming and diving finishing NCS this past week and look to the CIF State meet this weekend.
NCS team tennis gets going this weekend, with the singles and doubles play concluding Monday (May 6) after we went to deadline for this week.
Track and field had the EBAL championships this past weekend and head into the one-day NCS Tri-Valley meet!
Let’s look at where our teams and athletes stand heading into this week:
NCS volleyball
There are only two EBAL teams left standing in NCS, with Foothill the top seed in the Division I playoffs, and De La Salle as the No. 3 seed in D-II play.
The Falcons will host No. 4 Heritage on Tuesday night with a spot in the finals at stake. Foothill advanced with a 3-0 win over Berkeley in the second round after receiving a first-round bye.
The final score may have been 3-0 but it was an uncomfortable 3-0 win as the games went 25-18, 26-24, 25-17. Game three may look like a comfortable win, but there was a key moment in the set where the tables turned.
Berkeley was chippy throughout the night, and I heard things I never thought I would at a volleyball match. With the Falcons leading 10-8, Berkeley’s best player was justifiably ejected for his second unsportsmanlike violation.
The rest of the way Berkeley never got closer than three points as Foothill pulled away for the win.
In Heritage, the Falcons get a team they have not played but the Patriots have plenty of experience with EBAL teams having beaten Cal, Dublin, San Ramon Valley and Granada. They lost to Granada once, and Amador Valley once.
Josh Salonga did not play against Berkeley and will look forward to getting on to the court Tuesday.
In the other semifinal No. 3 Liberty is at No. 2 Castro Valley. Castro Valley advanced to the semifinals with a surprising and convincing 3-0 sweep of Amador.
For De La Salle the road is also a tough one with their trip to No 2 seeded Campolindo, a team DLS lost 2-1 in a tournament early in the season.
The Spartans beat Benicia 3-0, then followed with a tough 3-2 win over Redwood in the quarterfinals. Top-seeded Northgate will host Alameda in the other semifinal.
NCS swimming and diving
The event took place this past weekend at the Concord Community Pool and the EBAL took home numerous championships.
Here are the EBAL winners:
Boys
Team scores (top five): De La Salle 236, Amador Valley 209, San Ramon Valley 186.5, Foothill 149, American 146.
Luka Mijatovic (Foothill, Fr.) 200 free — 1:36.25; 500 free — 4:21.94.
Songrui Wu (Dougherty Valley, So.) 200 IM — 1:47.88; 100 fly — 48.64.
San Ramon Valley 200 free relay (Drew Arney, Chase King, Nick Tovani, Sawyer Jones).
Girls
Team scores (top five): Campolindo 310, Carondelet 258.5, San Ramon Valley 206, Monte Vista 187.5, Amador Valley 154.
Carondelet 200 medley relay (Madison O’Connell, Katherine Kracht, Elisabeth Butler, Natalie Aiken) 1:43.56.
Miranda Stevenson (San Ramon Valley) 50 free, 23.47.
Madison O’Connell (Carondelet) 100 free — 50.27; 100 back — 53.58.
Elisabeth Butler (Carondelet) 100 fly — 50.27.
Rylee Hutchinson (Amador Valley, So.) 4:55.15
San Ramon Valley 200 free relay (Alexis Parkinson, Avery Knapp, Sasha Babuskina, Miranda Stevenson) 1:34.89.
Haley Gregory (San Ramon Valley) 100 breast — 1:02.15.
NCS lacrosse
Boys
Two EBAL teams have advanced to the D-I semifinals, and one to the D-II semis.
No. 4 Monte Vista will be on the road to Marin Catholic following a 10-9 thriller over No. 5 Marin Academy. Marin Catholic beat Casa Grande 20-1.
In the other half of the bracket No. 3 De La Salle is on the road to No. 2 Redwood. De La Salle beat San Ramon Valley 22-2, with Redwood knocking off Tamalpais 6-3.
In the D-II playoffs, No. 2 Livermore will host No. 3 Northgate on Tuesday night for a spot in the finals. The winner will face the winner of No. 1 Justin-Siena and No. 5 Campolindo in the Thursday final.
Girls
The EBAL is assured of one D-I finalist as top-seed San Ramon Valley will host No. 4 Carondelet. San Ramon Valley beat Tamalpais 14-4, with Carondelet eliminating Amador Valley 11-6.
On the other side of the bracket No. 2 Redwood will host No. 3 Marin Catholic with a spot in the Thursday finals on the line.
NCS team tennis
The EBAL is well represented starting with top seeded California leading the way.
The Grizzlies will host No. 16 Maria Carillo Tuesday in the first round. Dougherty Valley (9) will be at Miramonte (8) in the first round.
Foothill (5) will host American (12); Amador Valley is the No. 3 seed but will be on the road to Benicia (14) because Benicia is a league champ, and according to the NCS rules, league champs get to host the first round.
Monte Vista (6) hosts Northgate (11) in the last first round.
Second round matches are set for Thursday at the higher seed courts. The semifinals and finals are Saturday, May 11 at James Logan.
EBAL track and field
The league meet was held May 3-4 at Livermore High. Qualifiers advance on to the NCS Tri-Valley meet which is at Pittsburg on May 11.
The following week, the NCS Meet of Champions will be held at Dublin High.
Here are the winners from the EBAL meet.
Boys
Team scores: De La Salle 144, Foothill 74, Dougherty Valley 65, Dublin 54, San Ramon Valley 39.5, Granada 39, Livermore 39, Monte Vista 31, Amador Valley 23.5, California 18.
100- Jaden Jefferson (DLS) 10.40; 200- Jaden Jefferson (DLS) 21.12; 400- Jayden Nicholas (DLS) 49.28; 800- Arrin Sagiraju (DV) 1:53.57; 1,600- Aarin Sagiraju (DV) 4:14.07.
3,200- Trey Caldwell (DLS) 9:17.33; 100HH- Nathanial Maddox (Dub) 14.86; 300H- EJ Boeschenstein (Foot) 39.05.
4×100 relay- De La Salle (Jaden Jefferson, Jayden Nicholas, Jonathan Guerrero, Toa Faave) 41.71; 4×400 relay- De La Salle (Dylan Rogers, Chase Young, Dominic Kelley, Wesley Gholson) 3:28.12; 4×800 relay- Foothill (Elias Benard, Brennan DeCoite, Diego Rosado, Nolan Chavez) 8:18.28.
HJ- Dwayne Noel (Liv) 6-2; PV- Matthew Loo (Dub) 13-2; LJ- EJ Boeschenstein (Foot) 22-1; TJ- Anthony Dean (DLS) 46-8; SP- Dawson Kerezsi (Gra) 49-2.5; Dis- Chandler Smoak (Liv) 150-3.
Girls
Team scores: Monte Vista 94, San Ramon Valley 89, California 68.5, Dublin 64.5, Carondelet 50, Granada 46, Foothill 34, Dougherty Valley 32, Amador Valley 17.
100- Jessica Okorie (Cal) 12.47; 200- Angelica Gomes (Dub) 24.91; 400- Angelica Gomes (Dub) 57.28; 800- Jayla Addison (Car) 2:16.56; 1,600- Hailey Gunderson (SRV) 5:03.53.
3,200- Sade Bumpus (Gra) 11:07.42; 100H- Malia Velasco (Car) 15.90; 300H- Alisia Xu (Foot) 45.79.
4×100 relay- Dublin (Kathryn Chee, Angelica Gomes, Neemah Grant-Gurganios, Aaliyah Hasni) 48.97; 4×400 relay- California (Elise Lee, Lillie Love, Lola Cervantes, Jessica Okorie) 4:00.73; 4×800 relay- Monte Vista (Sofia Fernandez, Emilyn Tang, Daria Madej, Peyton Dolan) 10:13.68.
HJ- Rachael Osicka (Cal) 5-3; PV-Elise Doyle (SRV) 12-02; LJ- India Harvey (SRV) 17-4.75; TJ- Emma San (Dub) 35-2.5; SP- Alexys Carlson (MV) 33-8.5; Dis- Avery Helfer (MV) 111-10.
EBAL baseball playoffs
The top three teams in the Valley and Mountain divisions advanced to the playoffs, with the top seeds — Granada and De La Salle getting a bye.
Tuesday the first round will feature Livermore at San Ramon Valley and Monte Vista at Foothill.
On Wednesday, the winner of Livermore/San Ramon Valley is at De La Salle, with the winner of Foothill/Monte Vista at Granada.
The semifinal winners will meet Friday, May 10 at a to be determined location.
EBAL softball playoffs
The top teams in each division will take part in the playoffs that begin on Tuesday.
San Ramon Valley is at Livermore in one semifinal with Amador Valley at California in the other.
The two winners will meet for the championship on Thursday at the higher seeded team’s field.
NCS golf
The D-I tournament will be held Monday, May 13 at Tilden Park in Berkeley.
Amador Valley, California, De La Salle, Dougherty Valley, Foothill and San Ramon Valley will be taking part.
Monday, May 20 will see the CIF NorCal tournament taking place at the Berkeley Country Club.
Editor’s note: Dennis Miller is a contributing sports writer for the Pleasanton Weekly. This column originally appeared in Tri-Valley Preps Playbook, a weekly sports e-newsletter published by Embarcadero Media Foundation. To sign up for free, visit https://www.pleasantonweekly.com/express/sports/.
