Harbor High’s girls volleyball team got some motivation from five-time Olympian Kerri Walsh Jennings during the ribbon cutting of the school’s new sand volleyball court Monday afternoon. That evening, the Pirates put it to good use, sweeping visiting St. Francis in the first round of the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League Tournament. The scores were 25-16, 25-20, 25-17.
Pearl Biddle led the way with 20 assists, five aces and five digs. Jordyn Skucius hit eight kills and Sierra Laird had seven.
The Pirates (14-19), the tournament’s No. 3 seed, host No. 2 Soquel in the semifinals Tuesday at 6 p.m.
The championship will be held Thursday at 7 p.m. at Harbor High. The winner gets a share of the SCCAL championship.
At Scotts Valley 3, Santa Cruz 1 >> Santa Cruz got the early jump, but the Falcons got the win, 17-25, 25-17, 25-21, 25-19, in the teams’ SCCAL Tournament quarterfinal match.
Serena Garcia’s 16 kills and seven aces paced Scotts Valley (18-8), while Sam Boyle added 19 kills and Maile Sussman had five aces. Jianna Andrews made a season-high 25 digs, while Emma Turner contributed 18 assists and Ava Glassey added 21 assists.
The fourth-seeded Falcons live to play top seeded Aptos, which went undefeated in league play, in a semifinal match Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at Harbor High.
Oakwood 3, at PCS 0 >> Eliana Abrams made 10 kills in the Pumas’ 25-22, 25-13, 25-21 Mission Trail Athletic League Coastal Division loss.
The Pumas (7-4, 6-4) are third in the MTAL-C. They finish regular-season play Tuesday against visiting Marina at 5 p.m.
Women’s soccer
SFSU 3, at UC Santa Cruz 2 >> San Francisco State got the early jump on the Slugs with the lone first-half goal to take the win.
Both UCSC’s goals came after the 70-minute mark with the team trailing 3-0. Cayce Shaw and Megan Carey both scored unassisted for the Slugs (4-9-1).
UCSC next plays at Mills on Friday at 2 p.m. The Slugs’ season finale is Nov. 5 against Mills at UCSC at 3 p.m.
Men’s soccer
SFSU 2, at UCSC 0 >> San Francisco State scored in the 13th and 65th minutes to spoil the Slugs’ senior day.
Christian DeGuzman made seven saves in one half of play for UCSC (3-10-2), which wraps up the season with a road trip to Texas. It plays Trinity on Friday at 5 p.m. and Southwestern on Sunday at 10 a.m.
Martial Arts
Titles for 11 locals in U.S. Open >> Blue belt Austin Fraley, 19, of Watsonville was the youngest of 11 Santa Cruz County participants to win his weight class at the US Open of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu XXI at Kaiser Permanente Arena on Saturday and Sunday.
Fraley won light weight division. Molly O’Brien, 38, of Santa Cruz won the feather weight division in her blue-belt class and Kelly McMillan, 42, won the medium heavy weight division in his class.
Among brown belts, Shane Torres, 24, of Capitola won his light feather weight class; Joshua Baudour, 28, of Watsonville won his light feather weight; Ron Micallef, 29, of Santa Cruz won his heavy weight class; Tom Tupper, 46, of Santa Cruz won his light weight class and Erick Fallon, 51, of Watsonville won his middle weight class.
Shakira Mitchell, 35, of Watsonville took home a white-belt heavy weight title, while Jesse Fernandez, 28, of Santa Cruz claimed a light weight title at white belt.
Will McTighe, 24, of Santa Cruz was the only local purple belt winner, prevailing in his light feather weight class.
