The North Coast Section came out with its playoffs for girls’ volleyball and flag football with the East Bay Athletic League well-represented in both.
And as is usually the case, there are some head-scratchers.
In flag football, the following teams qualified for the tournament from the EBAL (seed in parenthesis): California (2), Granada (5), San Ramon Valley (6), Amador Valley (8), Foothill (11) and Dublin (14).
California was set to be at home and open play Tuesday night against College Park (15) in a 6 p.m. game. Granada opened at Heritage High against Alameda (12). San Ramon Valley faced Foothill in a 7:30 p.m. game at Cal High. Finally, Dublin was playing at Liberty, against Liberty (3) at 6 p.m.
Results were pending as of press time. The quarterfinals were set to follow on Thursday at sites to be determined. The semifinals will be Nov. 4 with the championship game set for Nov. 6.
In volleyball, the NCS policy that a league champion gets to host a first-round game despite the seed is rearing its ugly head once again.
In the Open Division tournament, it worked in San Ramon Valley’s favor as the Wolves (5) was set to play host to Branson (4) in the first-round of the tournament on Wednesday night at 7 p.m.
The Open semifinals are set for Nov. 5, with the finals taking place Nov. 8.
In Division I play, it is nonsensical.
Play was opening Tuesday night with the games set for 7 p.m.
Monte Vista earned the top-seed, but for its efforts the Mustangs were sent on the road to Petaluma, the No. 16 seed. Carondelet is the No. 3 seed, but the Cougars were also North Bay-bound to play at No. 14 Rancho Cotate.
The lone EBAL team to be home in the first round is No. 6 Foothill that was playing host to No. 11 Northgate.
The quarterfinals are set for Saturday, with the semifinals on Nov. 5, and the title game taking place Nov. 8.
The D-II tournament returned some sense of normalcy, with No. 16 Granada traveling to top-seeded University on Wednesday. Amador is the No. 8 seed and was set to host No. 9 Terra Linda.
Foothill girls’ volleyball
The Falcons ended the regular season with a 25-11, 25-9, 26-28, 25-22 win over Amador Valley.
Highlights came from Paige Nelson (23 kills, 18 digs), Dani Yeh (41 assists, 5 kills), Olivia So (15 digs, 2 aces) and Addison Monnastes (5 kills, 2 blocks).
In a 27-29, 25-16, 25-17, 22-25, 13-15 loss to San Ramon Valley in the EBAL playoffs, highlights came from Nelson (21 digs, 20 kills), So (25 digs, 11 service pts), Ilayda Caglar (12 kills) and Brooke Stedman (18 digs, 11 service pts).
Amador girls’ water polo
The Dons ran into perennial powerhouse San Ramon Valley, dropping an 18-3 final to the Wolves.
Zahra Alami scored twice for Amador, with Susan Swyers adding the other goal.
‘The Playbook Jinx’?
It has been an interesting couple of weeks for my Big Picture column in our online Tri-Valley Preps Playbook. It seems like the Playbook is taking the place of the Sports Illustrated cover jinx.
A couple weeks back I wrote about how the young San Ramon Valley football team had come together and appeared to be hitting their stride following the Wolves’ 41-14 win over Amador Valley.
The next game SRV went out and were handled to the tune of a 33-14 loss to California.
The next week I wrote about the 7-0 Cal team and how they were getting it done this year. This past Friday, the Grizzlies saw their undefeated run ended with a 34-13 loss to Monte Vista.
It would seem natural that this week I would be writing about the Mustangs winning their EBAL opener and their dynamic offense.
My decision? Not a chance – although there is probably a good chance anyone associated with the Monte Vista program would answer a call from me, and justifiably so!
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.
