The magical Foothill High School girlís volleyball season came to an end last weekend when the Falcons fell to Los Alamitos (25-20, 25-19, 25-21) in the CIF Division 1 championship game.
When people think about volleyball in California, if not the entire United States, thoughts usually turn to Southern California. In fact, the last time a team from this league went to state was in 1991. This match provided an opportunity to turn attention to the highly skilled volleyball played in Northern California. For 38 matches, the Foothill girls knew only victory.
“We’ve never had a season like that before,” Coach Dusty Collins said. “A 38-0 season doesn’t come around too often.”
Even though they had not lost a match all season, the Falcons came into the championship match as an underdog for the first time this season to the perennial power from Southern California. The defending state champion, Los Alamitos Griffins, has won the state match three of the last four years. The Griffins came into the match with only a 26-6 record, but were fresh off a win over La Costa Canton-Carlsbad the fifth nationally ranked team (by prepvolleyball.com) and had nine seniors with one championship already under their belts.
All-season Falcon opponents struggled to figure out how to beat the play of middle blockers and all-tournament athletes Felicia Willoughby (11 kills, six digs, two blocks) and Betsy Sedlak (nine kills, eight digs, one block). Los Alamitos, the deepest team the Falcons faced all season, was able to attack the pair in waves. The Falcon pair was held to a combined 16 kills in the 3-game match. In fact, the entire Falcon team was held to only 25 kills for the match while the Griffins were able to pound away for 43 kills.
Injuries and fatigue were not the culprit, Collins said. Simply put, Foothill played well, but ran into a better team.
Other standout Falcons were Christy Payne (26 assists, six digs, one ace), Kara Strickland (six digs, five kills) and Alaynah Fiedler (four kills, four digs).
As for now, Collins said the team has taken some time to dwell on the season’s impressive accomplishments rather than their loss.
Lady Don soccer remains undefeated
The Lady Don soccer team entered the second week of pre-season play 3-0 by finishing off their third-straight shutout. The defensive efforts have been led by relentless play from Lindsey Ellison, Braelyn Fetch, Aryn Rayford, Michelle Avendano, and Nicole Garrity. The keepers, Laura Burton and Kelsey Baxter, have backstopped the defense by placing a wall in front of the Don net.The offense scored eight goals in the three wins. The offense is led by Kaitlyn Fitzpatrickís three goals and Natalie Griffenís two assists. The playmakers are midfielders Christina Hernandez, Caitlin Harper, Sarah Steele and Marissa Fraticelli.
Amador boys Cagers come back to take 3rd place
After dropping a 54-43 decision to tournament finalist Ocean View in their opening game, Amador Valley put together solid team efforts to win their next two games and take third place in the San Luis Obispo high school boyís basketball tournament.In their second game, a 44-34 win was aided by Amador defense, who swarmed the 7-foot, 2-inch Woodside Priory center like bees around the hive to prevent him from dominating the game.
In the consolation game, a fast start gave the Dons a 22-12 first quarter lead over Lompoc. The second quarter ended with the lead down to one at 33-32 at the half. The third quarter started with the Dons struggling as the Lompoc squad opened the second half with a 10-0 run. Down 42-34 with two minutes left in the third quarter, the Dons started their climb back into the game. Trailing 56-54 with 10 seconds left, Kevin Laue made one of two free throws to shrink the Lompoc lead to one. While a foul seemed to be the play needed to get the Dons back into the game, Shannon Riddell deflected a Lompoc pass that allowed Pat Mapes to gain possession for Amador Valley without committing a foul. Mapes made a short shot to give the Dons the lead and the victory 57-56.
Kyle Carbine led the Dons with 18 points and Pat Nelson was named to the All-Tournament Team for Amador.
Foothill girls hoops win Irvington tournament
Taking three straight from Fremont of Sunnyvale, Santa Cruz and Merced, the Foothill Falcons girlís basketball team swept through the annual Irvington tournament last weekend.
In the opening game against Fremont, the Falcons used an aggressive style of play. This tough defense prevented the Sunnyvale team from finding a rhythm, Foothill won 57-49.
Game two had the Foothill girls facing an impressive Santa Cruz team that had scored 80 points in its first game of the tournament. Head Coach Mike Furlong mixed up the teamís defense throughout the game to keep the Santa Cruz team off balance. The Falcons defense smothered the Santa Cruz guards preventing them from having open looks from 3-point land. Once the ball moved inside, Marikah WoodsonÝand Losaline KataÝdominated the paint preventing the Santa Cruz girls from mounting much offense. The Santa Cruz team was shut out in the first quarter and managed only 7 points for the first half. Krystal OjiÝled the Falcon offense with 19 points; Emily Valenziano scored 9 on three three-point shots and Kelly Sweeney added eight in the 50-32 win.
The championship game was the toughest of the tournament. Leading 18-9 after one quarter, Foothill struggled to keep the Merced girls down. The Bears came all the way back and cut the lead to one in the fourth quarter. After battling back and forth during the quarter the Falcons came out on top 54-52 for the championship. As it was for the tournament, the Foothill scoring was well balanced with Valenziano and Woodson scoring 11 each to lead the team.
The tournament MVP went to Krystal Oji and Kelly Sweeney also made the all-tournament team.
NCS football championship game tickets available today at FHS The NCS Division 4A championship game, which has Foothill facing national power De La Salle, will be played Saturday night at 7:15 p.m. at the Oakland McAfee Coliseum.Ticket prices for the game are general admission: $12.00. Tickets for tudents, seniors and children are $8.00. Pre-sale game tickets are only available today from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the school office.
While there is no reserved seating for the game, Sections 116-111 and 216-211 have been designated as the Foothill Falcons seating sections of the stadium. For those attending the game, please be aware that this is an alcohol-free event.
