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The Foothill girls’ volleyball team rebounded from a loss in the first week of East Bay Athletic League to roll to the title of the Bay Area Classic that took place at Menlo Atherton High School.
In the tournament, the Falcons beat Notre Dame SJ (25-15, 25-12), Marin Academy (25-18, 25-19), Palo Alto (25-15, 25-7), and in the title match Rocklin (25-22, 25-20).
During the week, the Falcons started EBAL play beating Granada 25-19, 25-9, 25-16. Highlights came from Kaycie Burdick (17 kills, .610 hitting percentage), Brooke Stedman (18 assists, 6 digs), Sophia Zhang (10 digs, 3 aces) and Sophia Burdick (4 kills, 4 digs, 1 block).
Later in the week Foothill fell to San Ramon Valley 25-12, 20-25, 19-25, 25-20, 9-15. Highlights were from Kaycie Burdick (25 kills, 16 digs), Kait Vogel (17 service points, 16 digs, 11 kills), Paige Nelson (29 assists, 11 digs, 8 kills), Lulu Hoenninger (7 kills, 4 blocks) and Olivia So (21 digs).
Amador Hall of Fame
The Amador Valley High School Boosters will be celebrating their 2024 Athletic League Hall of Fame inductees this week.
This year’s quartet is made up of former volleyball coach Rich Cortez, Natalie Griffen (soccer/track and field), Bob Hall (basketball) and Legacy pick Kelly French.
Rich Cortez: Cortez spent 17 seasons guiding the Amador program with an overall record of 368-197. In that span his teams won seven EBAL titles and claimed three North Coast Section championships out of 13 appearances in the tournament.
Natalie Griffen: Griffen was a 2010 graduate, lettering all four years in soccer and track and field. She was the captain of the Dons’ soccer team as a senior and helped the team to three NCS appearances. In track she won EBAL titles in the 400 meters and the 1,600-meter relay.
After high school, Griffen played a major role for four years at Stanford, helping the Cardinal to win the 2011 National Championship. She was also an Academic All-American at Stanford.
Bobby Hall: Hall is a 1993 graduate and was a three-year letter winner for the basketball team. He capped his senior year by leading the Dons to a NCS championship and a CIF Nor-Cal championship, giving the team a spot in the CIF State Championship game.
There the team fell 68-66 in overtime to multiple time state champion Artesia of Lakewood.
Hall went on to star at Hiwassee College in Tennessee — where he was named National Junior College Big Man Of the Year — before finishing off his hoop career playing two years at Louisiana State University.
Kelly French: The 1993 graduate played both softball and basketball for the Dons.
She was part of the legendary 26-inning, NCS playoff game that took three days to complete. She was also the coach of the inaugural girls’ lacrosse team at Amador Valley in 2002. She went on to be the team manager of girls’ lacrosse for 10 years.
She is also the parent of two Amador graduates in Grace and Maggie French and was a member of the Amador boosters board for five years.
As a Pleasanton Partnerships in Education Foundation board member, French started the PPIE Run for Education in 2013, which has brought in close to $1 million for all Pleasanton Unified School District schools.
Amador girls’ water polo
The Dons dropped California 14-9 behind four goals each from Susan Swyers and Kate Hopkins.
Regan Braga added three goals, with Zahra Alami, Abigail Jones, Olivia Ritter adding one goal each. Deepika Suresh had 11 saves for the Dons.
Amador boys’ water polo
The Dons led 7-2 at the end of the first period and cruised home with a 17-8 win over California. Landon Kenney had five goals, with Bryce O’Nesky and Tyler Kaste adding three each.
Anthony Sowul had two goals, with TJ Chandler, Jake DeMichiel, Eli Morris and Evan Shackford getting one each to round out the scoring. Morris added four assists.
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.
