MORGAN HILL -- It wasn't the hitting mistakes or miscues that deflated Live Oak's hopes of becoming the first Mount Hamilton Division to beat Evergreen Valley this season.
It was the plays that did work. For every tip or spike the Lady Acorns tried Thursday at Live Oak Gym, there was a Cougar -- or two or three -- in place to get a hand on the ball.
It spiraled into a discouraging night for the Acorns, who couldn't capitalize on their stark height advantage. The sure-handed Cougars showed their mettle as defending league champions and prevailed in four sets, 13-25, 25-17, 11-25, 16-25.
"You can't do anything against them," said Live Oak assistant coach James Uthes, filling in for coach Laura Coleman. "You can't tip. You can't attack middle or at the back. Nothing drops on their side of the net."
The one exception was in Game 2, when freshman hitter Fa Saulala tallied four of her team-high nine kills, and Annie Reyes-Ortiz added three for the Acorns (2-4 league). Live Oak's front row produced eight blocks, including five stuffs, and the Acorns' passing and sets were at their best.
"I was proud of the way we battled," Uthes said. "It could have been a lot closer. We weren't playing as well as we can."
Reyes-Ortiz finished with nine digs, six kills and two aces, Gabi Cinkova tallied seven blocks and four kills, and Guilia Seminatore had 10 digs and an ace for Live Oak. Handling most of the Acorns' sets in place of Jenna Robertson, Alyssa Brusaschetti collected 20 assists.
Evergreen Valley (7-0), which reached the Central Coast Section Division I semifinals in 2008, was back in control by Game 3. The Cougars scored the first three points on tip kills, and built a 9-3 lead mainly off Live Oak errors. The Acorns answered with a 7-3 scoring run, complete with five digs by Seminatore and three kills by Saulala, to make it 13-10. Evergreen Valley's lead ballooned to 20-11, though, and the Acorns committed five errors to end it.
The Cougars scored 15 of the final 25 points to pull away in Game 4. They zapped Live Oak's momentum when they won an eight-hit rally to go ahead 18-10. Senior outside hitter Inanna Eshoo planted a tap spike at game point.
"We tried tipping against them in the fourth game, but that wasn't working," Saulala said. "They're very fast; very quick. We tried everything. This hurt our confidence."
The evening began with the Cougars claiming the first point in a rally that included six digs. Evergreen Valley held its largest lead at 14-4, but Live Oak answered with kills by Reyes-Ortiz, Cinkova, Saulala and Katie Obbema to make it 18-12. Picking up their defense, the Cougars ended the opening game on a 7-1 run.
Eshoo amassed 13 digs, 12 kills and five aces, Trisha Dittbenner totaled 10 kills and two blocks, and Samantha Feril had 25 assists to lead Evergreen Valley.
GIRLS TENNIS
SHS running away with second place
The Lady Bulldogs strengthened their hold on second place in the Santa Teresa Division with a 5-2 win over Mount Pleasant on Thursday at Sobrato High.
Alexa Watanabe defeated Shelly Wong 6-2, 6-4, Ali Pecsok powered past Tran Nguyen 6-4, 6-4, and Emerald Nguyen rounded out the Bulldogs' singles winners with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Marie Nguyen.
The Cardinals (5-5 league) won the No. 3 singles match by default.
Sobrato (8-2) triumphed in two of three doubles matches. Amy Morimoto and Alyssa Warren beat Denise Noveno and Marlyan Nunes 6-3, 6-4, and Amanda Alipaz and Nemerta Cherra rallied to put away Jessica Romiro and Kim Dang, 3-6, 6-0, 6-2.
LO trio advances in Santa Teresa finals
Live Oak's top single and doubles team survived the first rounds of competition Friday in the Santa Teresa Division Singles/Doubles Tournament.
Senior Marie Lewis is to play in the semifinals after rallying past Oak Grove's Jennifer Kong 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) in the opening round. Lewis and Nicole Chua of Independence will square off this Friday. The winner draws the winner of the other semifinal between Oak Grove's Eileen Doan and Alicia Yanez of Overfelt.
Mika Matsumoto and Elena McElheny also will return to Mount Pleasant High, fresh off of beating Oak Grove's Ida Tran and Kim Le in the second round 6-0, 7-6 (7-3). The Live Oak tandem upset the No. 3-seeded team of Sobrato's Alyssa Warren and Emerald Nguyen in the first round 6-4, 6-2. Matsumoto and McElheny will play Deanna Pham and Cindy Do of Independence this Friday.
In other tournament news, reigning division singles champion Alexa Watanabe of Sobrato defeated Live Oak's Alyssa Gamboa in the second round 6-2, 6-1. Gamboa was coming off an opening victory, 6-1, 4-6, 6-2, over Lincoln's Arielle Straus.
Scott J. Adams Scott J. Adams covers Morgan Hill sports for South Valley Newspapers. Send him an email or call him at 779-4106.
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