Golf
Harker girls golfers defeated Menlo with only five girls, 236-242, to remain undefeated. Harker is tied atop the West Bay Athletic League with Castilleja. The girls face tough tests this week against Sacred Heart and then against Mercy-Burlingame on Friday.
Girls Volleyball The girls volleyball team defeated ECP last week, but lost in three tight games to a tough Crystal Springs squad on Thursday, 23-25, 23-25, 25-27. Even after the tough loss, however, the girls’ record remains at 14-2. This week, they hit the road for two games.
Girls Tennis
Despite dropping last Thursday’s contest to Menlo 5-2, the girls took a major step toward removing the “Menlo Mystique,” a cloud of invincibility held by Menlo over Harker since joining the West Bay Athletic League.
The match was much closer than the score dictates. Harker had two opportunities to win the match on their service, but Menlo was able to break on those occasions and ultimately came out on top.
“The girls knew they should have won and are eager to play again,” commented coach Craig Pasqua, adding, “This could be the very event that makes us stronger and hungry for the next level.”
Dora Tzeng, grade 11, completely demolished two-time WBAL MVP Giannina Ong at #2, winning 3 and 1. Harker’s #1 doubles team, which features Sat Prakash, grade 11, and Arden Hu, grade 10, also defeated Menlo’s strong #1 team by an equally impressive 2 and 2. Both #2 and #3 doubles teams raced to early leads in their matches, but both came up short. At #1 singles, Jenny Chen, grade 12, lost a close three set match, losing in a third-set tiebreaker. Harker’s other two singles players both went down, losing in straight set matches.
Harker has another chance to lock up the league title when they play Menlo again in a couple of weeks. After Menlo’s victory this week, Harker stands alone in second place with a 3-1 record in league play and a 6-1 record overall.
Upper School Football
Eagles quarterback Spenser Quash, grade 12, passed for 294 yards and rushed for 79, but Harker could not match Gunn High School’s 506 total yards as the Titans defeated the Eagles 49-21. Robert Deng, grade 12, and Kevin Moss, grade 11, each had touchdown catches, and kicker Deniz Celik, grade 12, added two field goals. Harker (2-4, 0-2) travels to Los Altos for a Santa Clara Valley Athletic League game this Saturday.
Cross Country
Harker’s cross country teams competed in their first league meet last week. Corey Gonzales, grade 10, placed second overall in the varsity boys race, beating his time from last year by 40 seconds. For the girls, Ragini Bhattacharya, grade 12, placed 10th, and Claudia Tischler, grade 11, ran a solid race, placing 16th. The teams run again this Thursday at Crystal Springs.
Water Polo
Both boys and girls water polo lost to Saratoga this past week. The boys lost 16-9 with goals scored by Karan Das-Grande, Gilad Nilo and Ryan Hume, all grade 12. The girls lost 6-3 for only their second league loss with goals by Keri Clifford, grade 12, Anna Levine, grade 11, and Anushka Das, grade 10. The boys also went 1-2 at the Live Oak Tournament over the weekend, defeating Harbor High and losing to Live Oak and Evergreen Valley. Goalie Sean Pan, grade 11, scored in the Evergreen loss, and David Grossman, grade 12, scored his first career goal. Both the boys and the girls host Santa Clara this Thursday.