The Los Gatos High School girls volleyball team advanced to the Central Coast Section Division I championship match before falling to Gunn last Saturday at Gunn.
Gunn, the sixth seed, beat No. 1 Los Gatos 25-18, 29-27, 25-22. Hannah Slover produced 16 kills to lead the Wildcats in hitting, and also had a team-high 14 digs. Teammate Adrina Tang passed for 29 assists.
Los Gatos (26-9) reached the final with a 21-25, 25-23, 25-13, 25-19 victory over No. 4 Carlmont in a semifinal match on Nov. 7. Slover, a freshman, led Los Gatos with 22 kills, and teammate Ella Weider added 11 kills. Tang had a team-high four aces and 38 assists in the win.
After a first-round bye, the Wildcats opened the tournament with a 25-13, 25-13, 25-17 win over No. 8 Homestead on Nov. 5. Natalie Anthony, a sophomore, paced Los Gatos in kills with 17, and Slover added 12. Tang had six aces and 38 assists in the victory.
Los Gatos is the No. 1 seed in the NorCal Division II playoffs and opened the tournament with a 20-25, 25-22, 25-22, 25-17 victory over No. 16 Christian Brothers-Sacramento. Anthony led Los Gatos with 22 kills and Slover added 18. Emily Gouldrup added 24 digs in the win. The result of Los Gatos’ quarterfinal match against No. 9 James Logan-Union City was unavailable at press time.
Girls water polo
Los Gatos finished its season with a 16-5 loss to fifth-seeded Soquel in the first round of the CCS Open Division playoffs on Saturday at Santa Cruz.
The Wildcats (22-5), the No. 4 seed, received a team-high three goals from Maddi King. Zoe Frangieh and Jordann Foster also scored for Los Gatos, the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division champion. Mackenzie Lindholm and Lindsey Adams both had two steals for the Wildcats.
Cross country
Los Gatos’ Annika Paylor won the SCVAL De Anza Division girls championship race on Nov. 5 with a time of 18 minutes, 12.9 seconds for the hilly 2.95-mile course at Crystal Springs in Belmont.
Paylor, a senior, won by an impressive 24.1 seconds over second-place Sylvana Northrop of Monta Vista (18:37.0). Los Gatos’ Viveca Pannell added a fifth-place finish in 19:03.8, as the Wildcats’ team placed third with a score of 68 and advanced to the CCS championships this Saturday at Crystal Springs. Saratoga placed fifth at the SCVAL De Anza championships with a score of 139.
In the boys race, Saratoga’s team placed fourth with a score of 92 and Los Gatos was fifth (122). Saratoga’s Harrison Dance finished second individually (15:47.1) with teammate Shivam Verma right behind him in third (15:49.6). Monta Vista’s Rohun Agrawal won the race in 15:36.4.
Los Gatos’ top placer was Justin Peck (13th, 16:43.2).
In the Blossom Valley Athletic League Mt. Hamilton Division championships on Nov. 4 at Crystal Springs, Westmont’s Garrett MacQuiddy won the boys race with a time of 15:42.7. Teammate Zachary Irwin added an eighth-place finish (16:31.9) as Westmont placed second with a score of 63.
In the girls race, Madilyn Zanardelli placed 11th (20:54.5) as Westmont finished fourth as a team with a score of 101.