The Saratoga golfer fired an even-par 72 at the Rancho Cañada East Golf Course in Carmel on Oct. 30 to finish three shots ahead of her nearest rival.

Actually, she had two nearest rivals—Eloise Vicencio of St. Francis and Jenelle Gomez of Braham, who tied for second in the tournament with matching 75s.

Saana Rapakko of Menlo-Atherton finished fourth in the tournament with a 78 to join the others as a Northern California qualifier.

Hsu led the contingent of four individual placers to the Northern Regionals played Nov. 4 at the Butte Creek Country Club in Chico. Along with the highest placing individuals, the top three teams—Menlo-Atherton, Notre Dame­Belmont and St. Ignatius—also qualified for NorCals.


Girls water polo

It looked like a one-two finish for Palo Alto and Los Gatos in girls water polo in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League—at least to everyone but Saratoga.

The Falcons had other ideas, and they turned those ideas into reality last week with a rousing 14-4 win over the Wildcats in the Saratoga pool.

The win left the Falcons 4-1 in the division and dropped the Cats to 3-2. Palo Alto finished first in the division at 5-0.

Kathryn Lewis poured in four goals and Victoria Behrens and Andrea Evans flipped in three apiece to lead the Falcons to the win over the Wildcats. Kori Shi, Alissa Montagna, Amanda Major and Emily Muniz supported with a goal each in the Saratoga victory.

The Cats actually led 2-1 after a period, but the Falcons tossed in four unanswered goals in the second quarter to take a 5-2 lead by intermission. Saratoga outscored Gatos 3-1 in the third, then 6-1 in the fourth to make it a runaway.


Girls volleyball

Bryte Nielson led the Saratoga girls volleyball team to back-to-back El Camino Division wins last week. The Falcons improved to 9-2 in the division and to 21-4 for the year with the two victories.

Nielson slammed 14 kills in a 15-4, 9-15, 15-7, 15-1 win over Homestead, and she came back with 20 kills in a 15-17, 15-1, 15-11, 15-10 win over Wilcox.

Westmont, meanwhile, split a pair of matches last week, and the loss proved costly in the Warriors' bid for a girls volleyball championship in the Santa Teresa Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League.

Westmont finished the week with an easy win over Silver Creek, but the Warriors opened play with a tough loss to Willow Glen. The split left the Warriors 9-3 in the division and 20-14 for the year. The Rams, meanwhile, improved to 10-1 in league play to all but wrap up the crown.

Senior Hillary Collins, a 5-foot-11 middle blocker, hammered down 13 kills to lead the Warriors to a 15-11, 15-1, 15-5 win over Silver Creek to close out the week.

But two days earlier, the Warriors dropped a tough 15-13, 15-12, 15-11 decision to Willow Glen, despite getting a half-dozen kills from junior Megan Merrill, a 5-foot-10 outside hitter.

Along with Collins and Merrill, the Westmont attack features two other varsity returners, sophomore setter Kathryn Obermeyer and senior middle blocker Christine Bargin.

"Our team is very young and inexperienced," admitted Westmont coach Peter Kim. "But we have good talent." The coach figured that the Warriors would contend for the league championship, but he knew that Willow Glen was the title favorite.

"CCS is a good possibility," added the coach, "and we should do well in the post-season."

Prospect slipped to 0-11 in the Mt. Hamilton Division last week after losing a tough 15-6, 15-11, 11-15, 15-3 decision to Independence. Randie Gillespie had 11 kills for the Panthers. Prospect is 3-16 for the year.

Gillespie is one of five returning starters for the Panthers this season. She's joined on the floor by Prospect veterans Kristen Akeley, Louama Taulealea, Alicia Telfer and Kianna Vidales. Freshman middle blocker Lizzie Miller is another key varsity player for the Panthers.


Field hockey

The Saratoga girls were held scoreless in two games last week, but managed to pull out a scoreless tie in one of the two field hockey games.

The Falcons battled Monta Vista to a 0-0 tie before losing 1-0 to Live Oak. Saratoga slipped to 3-4-4 in league play.

Westmont rolled to a 6-0 West Valley Division win over Berkeley last week, pouring in five goals in the first half. The Warriors are 9-1-1 in the division and 9-7-1 for the season.