Written by: Chaewon Lee, Roy Shadmon, Rani Shiao, and Henry Siu

Girl’s Volleyball

After two disappointing seaso

ns with only one league win, the girls’ volleyball team wants to prove that they belong in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic De Anza League. Head coach Kevin Hwang believes that the team is ready to face their competition. “Every night brings a tough challenge with good athletes and coaches on the other side of the net,” Hwang said. “[

Our strength is] having a lot of girls who can hit the ball hard.”

During Labor Day weekend, the team competed in the Spikefest tournament at Milpitas, beating Burlingame in three sets to win their bracket. “With how we played at Spikefest, our performance in league looks promising,” senior captain Mika Munch said.

The team’s opening league game is on Sept. 18 against Palo Alto High School. “I’m expecting that we will surprise a few people,” Hwang said.

Girls’ Tennis

The girls’ tennis team is swinging into their season with one goal: to defeat its opponents in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League (SCVAL). The team lost many seniors from last year, but senior varsity captain Alice Li has high hopes for this season. “The incoming sophomores and juniors are good,” Li said. “I’m sure that we will play [well at tournaments].”

The team began their season with a scrimmage against Menlo Atherton High School. “We got to play against really good opponents, and the fact that it was a scrimmage took away some pressure of winning versus losing,” Li said.

The team used the scrimmage to prepare for the 2012 California High School Tennis Classic in Fresno on Sept. 7 and 8. The girls participated in a round robin tournament consisting of three matches on Sept. 7 and two on Sept. 8. The team won two of its five matches. “We had a great time in Fresno, and the team played some of their best tennis,” senior Devyani Bhadkamkar said. “The tournament was a good way to start off the season.” The team’s next match is on Sept. 18 against Santa Clara High School.

Girls’ Golf

As a result of growing female interest in a new golf team, athletics director Sarah Stapp and head coach Chris Redfield have created a girls’ golf team for the upcoming fall season. “There were several girls playing on the boys’ golf team who were doing very well,” Stapp said. “We finally had enough people to meet the league quota for starting a new team this year, and acted on it since there seemed to be considerable interest.”

Though the team is new, it boasts returning team members who hold Central Coast Sectionals (CCS) titles. Both junior team captain Jayshree Sarathy and sophomore Anna Zhou were regular starters on the boys’ varsity team.

If the opening game against Sacred Heart Prep is any indication, the team is on its way to a strong season. “At first, we didn’t really know whether we could compete with the other teams in our league,” Sarathy said. “But our team won by over 20 points.”

All in all, Redfield is glad that the new team has taken off so successfully. “We have a nice, dedicated group of eight players, and with some hard work, we’ll be able to have a really competitive high school team with five or six solid players,” Redfield said.

Boys’ Cross Country

As fall sports kick into full swing, no group hits the ground running faster than the boys’ cross coun- try team. While the team lost of a number of talented seniors—six out of seven members of last year’s varsity team graduated in the spring—the athletes are hoping to have a successful season. “Although we l

ost a lot of good seniors this past year, we have a promising group of underclassmen,” junior Drew Bent said. “Unfortunately, with the lack of experi- enced runners, it will be a challenge for the boys to qualify to CCS this year.”

In their first meet on Aug. 30, the boys took home a disappointing third place behind Palo Alto High School and Saint Francis High School. A few bright spots in their performance included sophomore David Lee-Heidenreich’s impressive second place finish with a time of 11 minutes and 42 seconds on the 2.18 mile course and junior Ian Malone’s twelfth place finish with a time of 12 minutes and 24 seconds.

Boys’ Water Polo

After finishing with a 16-11 record last year, the boys’ water polo team is ready for the new season. New head coach Tim Kates is feeling good about the upcoming season as there are many athletes trying out. “In fact, there are too many athletes, so there’s a lot of competition [to play for the team],” he said.

Despite the competition during tryouts, the team is closely knit. According to sophomore Ari Wayne, the team’s leadership and chemistry will help the boys accomplish their goals this new year. “We’re hoping that we beat Paly, make it to CCS and do well in the Santa tournament at the end of the year,” Wayne said.

While striving to reach these goals, Kates also hopes to make the athletes challenge themselves. “It doesn’t matter what the wins and losses are,” he said. “My goal is to have the kids try their hardest every day and to open their minds.”

The team’s next game is on Sept. 18 at Homestead High School.

Football

After placing third in the El Camino Division with a 4-2 league record last year, the football team expects to improve its performance in the upcoming season.

Although last season’s team had to adapt to a new coach, head coach Dan Navarro believes that the team is now ready to take on its competition.

“We have good quarterbacks and some very skilled players,” Navarro said. “The whole team is very enthused, and we all very much want to be successful.”

The team’s primary goal will be to win the SCVAL championships. While this is a daunting task, assistant coach Mark Weisman is positive that the team’s strong passing game and returning starters will result in vic- tory. “We’re primarily shooting for winning the El Camino division title,” he said. “Hopefully, we’ll also see some individual team improvement that can then factor into the team’s success.”

The team’s next match will be an away game against Palo Alto High School on Friday, Sept. 21.

Girls’ Water Polo

After an impressive finish last season with the SCVAL title, semifinals in CCS and a 22–7 record, the girls’ water polo team hopes to defend its title and go further in CCS. “We have a good returning group; young players, a cohesive team, and lots of game experience,” head coach Mark Hernandez said.

Regardless, the team will be hurt by the loss of seniors. “I think that a lot of the players who will be starters have not had enough experience to feel completely confident in themselves,” senior Maggie Sockness said. “Most of the starters last year were seniors.”

The team still has many strengths. “We already have a good team and with the new players, we have potential,” Sockness said. However, according to Hernandez with lots of scoring ability, the girls’ water polo team needs to work on its defense. “Scoring goals is easy. We’re always scoring, but defense is the key to our success,” he said.

Girls’ Cross Country

The girls’ team is gearing up for some tough compe- tition this year. With an entirely brand new coaching staff, they have gotten off to a rough start. A newly focused training regimen, however, has got the team looking forward to a successful season. “This year we are going to focus more on hill workout

s on unpaved paths which reflect racing conditions and help prevent injuries,” senior Ally Reister said. The team’s roster features four seniors and a number of underclassmen.

The team took off to a promising start, winning first place over Paly and Saint Francis at the Gunn Alumni Meet on Aug. 30, their first competition of the season. Junior Sarah Robinson took first place in the girl’s event with a time of 11 minutes and 57 seconds, over a minute ahead of the second place finish, and fresh- man Gillian Meek finished third with an impressive 13 minutes and 31 seconds. In addition junior Eliana Ribbe and sophomore Catherine Kim finished fifth and tenth.