Natalie Monroe had a stellar outing, and the No. 4 seed Santa Cruz High’s girls volleyball team beat No. 5 Aptos 25-14, 27-25, 22-25, 25-20 in the first round of the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League Tournament on Monday.
Monroe, a junior outside hitter, finished with 23 kills, four aces, 13 digs, and two blocks.
The semifinals will be held at Harbor High on Tuesday evening. No. 3 Scotts Valley (18-9) faces No. 2 Soquel (15-13) at 5 p.m., and Santa Cruz (16-11) plays No. 1 Harbor (19-9) at 7 p.m.
The tournament championship will be hosted by the highest remaining seed on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
Cardinals head coach Caroline Nicodemus credited coach Hunter Zeng and his Mariners for putting up a great fight.
Nicodemus said her team succeeded in its two objectives. The first was to shut down the Aptos’ standout outside hitters, Kenzie Smith and Ella Dueck.
“Our other game plan was to go out and play bold, confident, big volleyball,” Nicodemus said. “This meant challenging the end line with our serves, taking big swings out of system, and running our middles in transition. We stayed confident as a team and understood that there would be inevitable errors that would come with playing like that, but knowing our training has led us to be successful at making these aggressive plays.”
Freshman Haisley Flanagan had eight kills, three aces, and 19 digs for the Cardinals. Senior Kelaiah Wynn had 10 kills. Freshman setter Irie Butler made 26 assists and sophomore Colette Huynh made 15 assists. Senior Shelby Leonardich had 29 digs, and sophomore Clara Bay Marinelli-Watkins made three blocks.
The Falcons swept San Lorenzo Valley in their first round match, 25-20, 25-21, 26-24. Individual highlights weren’t available.
With their losses, Aptos dropped to 12-15 and SLV fell to 4-18.
St. Francis 3, Notre Dame (Salinas) 0 >> Junior outside hitter Peyton Orradre had seven kills and senior middle blocker Alyssa McDaniel had five kills in the Sharks’ 25-13, 25-14, 25-18 sweep in Pacific Coast Athletic League Cypress Division action Monday.
Junior setter Julie Lopez had five kills, 10 assists, and one block for the Sharks (14-10, 6-7), and junior setter Georgia Otzman had 17 assists.
Senior right side and setter Sophia Munoz had six assists, two aces and two kills.
St. Francis hosts Rancho San Juan in the teams’ regular-season finale on Wednesday at 6 p.m.
Monterey 3, Watsonville 1 >> The Wildcatz suffered a 25-27, 25-13, 25-22, 25-23 loss to the Toreadores in their PCAL Mission Division finale on Monday.
Watsonville (15-9, 8-5) finished in third place. Monterey (20-12, 13-1) took first.
MVC 3, at Hollister 0 >> The Mustangs earned a 25-15, 25-20, 26-24 sweep in their PCAL Gabilan Division match on Monday.
“We had good execution with offense and also played good defense at the net,” Mustangs coach Brittney Long said. “We worked well together as a whole and enjoyed playing the game.”
MVC (19-9 ,7-6) hosts Stevenson (10-12, 2-11) in the teams’ regular-season finale on Wednesday at 6 p.m.
Girls flag football
Watsonville 40, Rancho San Juan 6 >> Brianna Leon had a touchdown reception and returned an interception for a score to help the Wildcatz roll in their play-in game for the PCAL Tournament on Monday.
Isa Alvarez also returned an interception for a touchdown.
Fernanda Lazo three three touchdown passes. Monique De La Mora and Steph Martinez each had a touchdown reception and made an interception. Taylor Alves rushed for touchdown.
The Wildcatz (10-13, 8-6) play Hollister at Rancho San Juan High on Wednesday at 5 p.m.
Women’s volleyball
Fresno Pacific 3, at UC Santa Cruz 0 >> Gabia Paliulis had eight kills in the Banana Slugs’ 25-13, 25-19, 27-25 loss Monday.
Margo Melgoza had 15 assists for UCSC, and Anna Hospodar made 11 digs.
UCSC (12-12) plays at Mary Hardin-Baylor (20-6) in Belton, Texas, on Friday at 1 p.m.