Sports briefs: Redwood, Branson to square off for tennis title

The girls tennis teams from Redwood High and the Branson School are ready to renew their rivalry after both picked up wins on Wednesday to advance to Friday’s MCAL championship match.

The Giants, who went undefeated through the MCAL regular season, secured their spot following a 6-1 victory against San Marin. Branson leaned on its depth, getting victories at Nos. 2-4 singles, plus No. 3 doubles, to get past Tam 4-3 in the other semifinal.

Alessia Balliet, Jennie Liu, and Julia Laury picked up wins at Nos. 2-4 singles, respectively, as the Giants opted to pair their top two players at No. 1 doubles with Jordan Marotto and Ella Povio picking up another win.

San Marin’s lone win came courtesy of No. 1 singles plater Clare Zhu, who defeated Julia Povio, 6-2, 7-6 to remain unbeaten on the season.

Katie Warrin, Audrey Gilmor, and Paloma Vano-Rice were victorious for Branson at Nos. 2-4 singles, respectively. Talia Schneiter and Alexandra Sebastiani picked up the win at No. 3 doubles.

Redwood took both regular-season meetings against Branson, winning 5-2 on Sept. 5 and again on Oct. 8. Warrin picked up wins at No. 2 singles in both matches for Branson. Marotto won one match at No. 1 singles and another at No. 1 doubles with Ella Povio across the two meetings.

Nate Greenberg scored back-to-back goals to rally top-seeded Archie Williams past Tam, 8-6, in Thursday’s MCAL boys water polo semifinals.

The Peregrine Falcons (21-3) advance to Saturday’s finals against the winner of Thursday’s late semifinal between Redwood and Terra Linda.

Archie Williams tied the score 4-4 in the final second of the third period on a penalty goal by Hayden Long. Greenberg then scored the winning goal 1 minute into the final frame with a shot from the top of the arc that glanced off goaltender Ethan Wallace’s fingers. Archie Williams had not led the entire game to that point.

Jake Carrera and Long both scored twice for the Falcons, who also got goals from Vincent Krilanovich and Nolan Anderson.

Reed Hanna scored four goals for the Red-tailed Hawks (14-11), who also got goals from Andrew Sternfels and Jasper Feldman. Wallace had 11 saves for Tam.

Game stories and details on the other three semifinals can be found online at marinij.com/sports and will run in Saturday’s print edition.

Former Marin Catholic High standout Joey Calcaterra was traded from the South Bay Lakers to the Santa Cruz Warriors on Oct. 26.

Calcaterra finished his MCAL career as the league’s all-time leading scorer. Calcaterra claimed MCAL Player of the Year honors in 2017 then played at the University of San Diego before transferring to Connecticut and winning a national championship in 2023.

Calcaterra averaged 3.8 points in 14 minutes per games for the South Bay Lakers last season. The Santa Cruz Warriors open the season on Nov. 8 against the Valley Suns.

Diego Grande scored in the 82nd minute but Dominican University’s comeback bid fell short in a 2-1 loss to Concordia Irvine on Thursday. The Penguins (7-7-1, 4-5-0 PacWest) outshot Concordia Irvine 21-11 for the game but conceded goals inside the first 2 minutes and last 2 minutes of the first half.

Ireland O’Donnell scored Dominican’s lone goal in the 77th minute of a 4-1 loss to Concordia Irvine on Thursday. Audrey Nakashima provided the assist for the Penguins (6-9-1, 3-6-0 PacWest).

Camille Rivers had 33 assists and 11 digs as Dominican lost a five-setter, 17-25, 25-19, 25-20, 13-25, 11-15 at Concordia Irvine on Wednesday night.

Reagan Macha paced the Penguins (3-14, 2-9 PacWest) with 12 kills and Rein Bocage had 21 digs.

Coaches are encouraged to report scores, stats and game details via email to [email protected] or to @marinij_sports on Twitter following games. Anything that comes in after the deadline for print – around 8 p.m. typically – will be included the following day.