East Union’s Riley takes third at NorCals, advances to state golf championships

East Union High School’s Brooke Riley placed third Monday at the NCGA/CIF Northern California Championship at The Club at Crazy Horse Ranch in Salinas, qualifying for next week’s state championships at Red Hill Country Club in Rancho Cucamonga.

Riley fired a 1-under-par 71, tied for third place with Kathleen Scavo of Justin-Siena and one back of leaders Yoonhee Kim of Dougherty Valley and Sabrina Iqbal of Pioneer (San Jose). Kim defeated Iqbal in a one-hole playoff.

St. Francis (Mountain View) won the team title with a combined score of 401. Turlock finished eighth with a 483. Sarah Garcia paced the Bulldogs with a round of 87.

On her last hole, she carded a 4 on the par-5, 509-yard ninth to gain a share of third place.

Tennis

Central Catholic reaches final; LB ousted – Central Catholic will play for the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III girls tennis championship on Wednesday after beating Pioneer (Woodland) 7-2 at Del Rio Country Club.

The Raiders (16-0) will travel to West Sacramento to take on River City, a 6-1 winner over Western Athletic Conference powerhouse Los Banos.

The Raiders swept the singles matches, getting wins from Payton Kelley, Amie Ardis, Emma Withrow, Faith Masellis, Rosella Rangel and Marissa Lopes. CC’s other victory came from the No. 3 tandem of Sarah Gemperle and Annie Kraft.

“River City is a very disciplined team, and it’s going to be a tough match,” said CC coach Christy Perez. “The girls are fired and ready to play.”

Los Banos freshman Shirley Liu defeated River City’s Julia Quenga 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 in No. 1 singles, but River City swept the final five singles matches – with three of those going to three sets.

“All of the singles matches, except for one, went two hours,” said Los Banos coach Lynn Barcellos, whose team posted a fifth consecutive unbeaten Western Athletic Conference record and finishes at 20-2. “It was a really close match, a good match, all around.”

Rocklin 9, Turlock 0 in Turlock – The top-seeded Bulldogs fell to Rocklin 9-0 in the quarterfinals of the Division I tournament.

Turlock’s Courtnie Chan fell 7-5, 6-2 in the No. 3 singles match but battled Talia Panadiro all the way. Senior Harneet Badial also fought hard, suffering a 6-4, 6-4 loss to Elisse White. The Bulldogs’ top duo of Abby Naranjo and Michelle Gomez fell 6-4, 6-4 to Payton Riker and Laura Maranta in another close contest.

“It’s fun to coach a team that has a commitment to the team and a drive to excel,” said Bulldogs coach Linda Bejaran, whose team won its eighth consecutive Central California Conference crown this season.

Volleyball

Playoffs get underway – Twenty-four Stanislaus District teams begin what they hope will be a long march through the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs, beginning tonight.

In Division I, Enochs and Turlock travel to Stockton for first-round matches. The No. 9 Eagles will take on No. 8 St. Mary’s while the No. 10 Bulldogs play No. 7 Lincoln. There also are two matches in Division II with ninth-seeded Golden Valley hitting the road to face No. 8 Tracy and No. 14 Gregori visiting third-seeded Rocklin.

In the D-III bracket, Los Banos hosts Liberty Ranch of Galt in a 6 p.m. start. Sixth-seeded Oakdale hosts No. 11 Sacramento and No. 15 Central Valley visits No. 2 Christian Brothers.

In Division IV, 11 of the 16 teams hail from the Stanislaus District with top-seeded Sonora, No. 2 Hilmar, No. 3 Calaveras, No. 4 Escalon, No. 5 Amador, No. 6 Ripon, No. 8 Ripon Christian, No. 11 Central Catholic, No. 13 El Capitan, No. 15 Orestimba and No. 16 Hughson all braced for action.

In D-V, No. 8 Big Valley Christian will host No. 9 Hughes Academy, No. 5 Mariposa hosts No. 12 Western Sierra, and No. 6 Gustine entertains No. 11 Buckingham Charter. In Division VI, fifth-seeded Turlock Christian travels to face New Life Christian, while No. 2 Stone Ridge Christian hosts No. 7 Tioga.

Water polo

Back in the pool – The second round of the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs resumes today with Merced’s boys and girls in Division I action at Tokay High in Lodi. The boys take on Lodi at 11 a.m., while the girls face Del Oro at 1 p.m.

In Division II girls, reigning champion Oakdale takes on El Camino at 1 p.m. in the Whitney High (Rocklin) pool, while Sonora takes on Rio Americano at 3. Oakdale and Rio met in the playoffs the last three seasons – the last two years in the final.

In D-II boys, also at Whitney, Ripon takes on Christian Brothers at 8 a.m., and Oakdale faces Rio Americano at 10:30.

This story was originally published November 10, 2014 at 11:12 PM with the headline "East Union’s Riley takes third at NorCals, advances to state golf championships."