Santa Cruz High’s boys volleyball team earned the No. 1 seed in the Central Coast Section Open Division playoffs, it was announced at the seeding meeting Saturday.
The Cardinals (33-1 overall), the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League’s regular season and tournament champion, will open the playoffs with a home match against No. 8 Lynbrook (17-14) of San Jose on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
If Santa Cruz wins its opener, it’ll face either No. 4 Archbishop Mitty (26-7) of San Jose or No. 5 Harker (25-9) of San Jose in the semifinals on Thursday at a site and time TBA.
The championship will be held Saturday at Harker School. The match time is TBA.
Saint Francis (24-7) of Mountain View is the No. 2 seed in the Open Division, and Valley Christian (28-10) of San Jose is No. 3.
Harbor (20-16) and Soquel (17-11) also qualified for the playoffs and will compete in Division II.
In Monday’s first round at 6 p.m., the No. 6 Pirates host No. 11 Del Mar (20-8) of San Jose, while the No. 9 Knights play No. 8 Burlingame (21-10) at Hillsdale High in San Mateo.
If Harbor wins its opener, it’ll play at No. 3 Monterey (22-12) in the quarterfinals on Tuesday at 6 p.m. If Soquel wins its opener, it’ll play at No. 1 Monta Vista (16-13) in Cupertino in the quarterfinals on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
Aragon (29-3) of San Mateo is the No. 2 seed in D-II, and Carmel (18-11) is No. 4.
The semifinals will be held Thursday, and the championship will be held Saturday at Harker School. Match times are TBA.
Girls lacrosse
Scotts Valley 14, at Monterey 5: The short-handed Falcons, the runner-up in the Pacific Coast Athletic League’s Gabilan Division, beat the Mission Division champion Toreadores on Saturday to secure the league’s second spot in the upcoming CCS playoffs.
The Falcons only had eight players due to a conflict with Scotts Valley’s prom and SAT testing. Full strength is 12-on-12.
Sofia Niklaus had 11 goals, two assists, 15 draw possessions and four draw controls for the Falcons (11-2).
Skylar Dufour had two goals, three assists, one draw possession, and 13 draw controls. Claire Skinner scored one goal, Dillon Fiorita had three assists, and Serena Sanford-Brantley had one assist.
At Scotts Valley 7, Monte Vista Christian 5: Skylar Dufour had three goals, three assists, and four draw controls, as the Falcons won their PCAL Gabilan Division finale Friday.
Sofia Niklaus also scored three goals, and had seven draw possessions and three draw controls for the Falcons, and Dillon Fiorita added a goal.
Goalie Jordan Stirling made five saves for Scotts Valley (10-2, 8-2).
Senior Kyra Driscoll scored three goals for MVC (11-8, 5-5). Sophomore Sophia Sheridan had a goal and an assist, and freshman Maya Moore also scored a goal. Senior Alexa Malaspina had two assists.
College softball
NorCal playoffs: No. 8 seed Cabrillo’s CCCAA NorCal Regional playoff series against No. 9 Sacramento City was postponed Saturday due to rain.
Game 2 of the best-of-three seres will be held in Aptos at 10 a.m. Game 3, if necessary, will be held at noon.
Cabrillo won the series opener 5-4 on Friday.
High school track and field
SCCAL Championships: The SCCAL Championships on Saturday were postponed due to rain. The event was rescheduled for Monday at 5 p.m. at Soquel High.
WCAL Championships: Archbishop Mitty sophomore Alessia Carbone, a Scotts Valley resident, posted two top-10 finishes at the West Catholic Athletic League Championships at Saint Francis High in Mountain View on Friday.
Carbone recorded a personal-best time of 5:27.67 in the 1,600-meter race and finished in fifth place, and placed ninth in the 800 (2:35.73).
Monarchs junior Evie Marheineke, a Santa Cruz resident, ran the third leg of the 4×400 relay, which placed third (4:11.21) and advanced to the CCS Semifinals at Gilroy High on Saturday.
High school softball
Watsonville 13, at Santa Catalina 0, 5 inn.: Julia Maldonado had three hits, one RBI, and scored twice in the Wildcatz’s PCAL Mission Division win Friday.
Mia Espinoza and Esperanza Sigala each had two hits and scored twice. Taylor Alves and Jillian Lerma each had two hits, one RBI, and a run scored. Amelia Martinez had a hit and scored twice.
Martinez struck out eight batters over three innings and earned the win.
Watsonville (14-4, 10-1) host Gonzales (1-11, 1-9) in the teams’ regular-season finale on Wednesday at 4 p.m.
Boys basketball
Levak commits: MVC’s Vid Levak, a 6-foot senior guard, will continue his academic and athletic career at NAIA program Simpson University in Redding.
Levak averaged 3.3 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 3.1 assists in 15 games for the Mustangs (18-8, 10-4), the runner-up in the PCAL Cypress Division.
The Red Hawks went 8-20 this season, 6-14 in the Cal Pac Conference, under coach David Cone.
Reporting Scores
Coaches are encouraged to report scores and highlights to sports@santacruzsentinel.com following games. Please include your name and contact number in the email.
