The North High girls volleyball team found the best way to move past its disappointment in not winning the CIF Central Section Division V championship last week against Strathmore.
One week after a five-set loss at home in that title match, the same teams had a rematch in the CIF State Division V regional quarterfinals on Thursday. With Strathmore hosting, North won in a four-set match, 18-25, 25-19, 25-11, 25-22.
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Fifth-seeded North (29-12) got 22 kills from Remi Ford and 15 from Mia Contreras, Kylee Foley had 37 assists and Lillianna Gonzales had seven service aces in the win over No. 4 seed Strathmore.
North plays at No. 1 Oxnard-Rio Mesa in a 6 p.m. regional semifinal Saturday. The winner advances to the CIF State Division V regional finals Tuesday.
In a CIF State Division II quarterfinal, No. 8 Liberty lost a five-set match at home Thursday against No. 16 seed Mission College Prep of San Luis Obispo. The match was back and forth but the Royals (31-8) prevailed, 18-25, 25-22, 23-25, 25-21, 17-15, over the Patriots (19-20). MCP’s rise as a 16 seed is impressive as it knocked off both the Patriots and, earlier in the week, the top seed in Division II, Centennial, in five sets.
Liberty’s Mia Cole and Natalie Cuper led the team with 16 and 10 kills, respectively. Elizabeth Lewis had 48 assists. The five-set performance contributed to a strong season finish by the Patriots (19-20).
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CIF boys water polo
The 2026 Stockdale High boys water polo team had already gone farther in the CIF Central Section playoffs than any previous Mustangs team had been. On Thursday night, Stockdale’s 13-8 Division III road semifinal victory over host Tulare Western clinched the program’s first-ever appearance in a section final.
The No. 8 seeded Mustangs (17-12) got five goals on six shots by Fabian Rivera, three goals from Cooper Starr and two from Jaxon Roberts. Goalie Ben Giumarra was a standout again and it was all necessary to take down the fourth-seeded Tulare Western (16-13).
“The team is playing with a lot of trust in one another and that’s really been helping to take the pressure off their shoulders for these big games,” Stockdale head coach Joseph Starr said.
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The Mustangs beat Santa Maria, Madera and Bakersfield and now Tulare Western. Stockdale advances to play in the D-3 championship final against No. 2 seed Hanford-Sierra Pacific. The match is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday at Sierra Pacific High, which will also be the site of all boys and girls CIF water polo championship matches Saturday.
“Our goal has always been to win a CIF section title and that’s what we are looking to accomplish on Saturday,” Starr said.
HS girls tennis
Due to rain, officials moved the start of the CIF Central Section Individuals Tournament for singles and doubles from Friday to 11 a.m. Saturday at Clovis Buchanan High’s tennis courts.
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Four local singles players and four local doubles teams are among the 16-player and 16-team brackets.
Stockdale High’s Jordan Li is the No. 2 seed in the singles, followed by Mustangs teammate Akshaya Behara, a fifth seed, Centennial’s Giada Dibble is sixth and Garces’ Sienna Giumarra is the 11th seed.
In doubles, the local entrants are Garces’ Cianna Antongiovanni and Paisley Crider at the No. 1 seed, Stockdale’s Kaitlyn Huynh and Alaina Eao at the No. 2 seed, Liberty’s Megan Cove and Marylynn Frech are the eighth seed and Bakersfield Christian’s Maci Frick and Sarah Kratt were seeded 11th.
HS cross-country
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Three leagues, the South Sequoia League and South Yosemite’s River and Valley, competed in their respective league cross-country finals Thursday at The Park at River Walk’s 5,000-meter course.
Team titles in both boys and girls varsity races were swept by Wasco in the SSL, Liberty in the SYRL and Highland in the SYVL. With the exception of the Wasco boys and Highland girls, four of the six league final team winners dominated their races, finishing with 19 or fewer points.
Liberty’s SYRL sweep was the most impressive as the girls scored 15 points and the boys won with 17 points.
In the girls’ race the Patriots’ Reagan Aakhus was the individual winner in 19 minutes, 27.1 seconds and she was followed, in order, by Adelyn Curran, second, 19:44.4; Kloe Ulloa, third, 20:09.4; Lucy Saiki, fourth, 20:24.8; and Addison Ash, fifth 20:29.7.
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Stockdale’s Siena Howry was sixth in 20:30.2, but Liberty runners placed seventh and eighth.
Liberty’s Caden Salazar was the boys SYRL individual winner, finishing in 16:30.5. He was followed by Salvador Quezada, second, 16:33.4 and Zachary Saiki, third, 16:34.4. Stockdale’s John Paul Pacheco was fourth in 16:37, but Liberty’s David Cruz was fifth in 16:50.2 and Chase Mason Kinney set a personal-best time of 17:05.8 to complete the Patriots’ team scoring. Josiah Perez of Bakersfield was seventh in 17:10.
Highland’s boys team won the SYVL title with a 15-point score, claiming the first five spots.
Alik Ante led the Scots and the entire race field in a time of 16:33. Rome Amaral was second, 16:38.7; Jayden Godinez third in 16:48.7; Nick Lomas, fourth, 17:28.1; and Jose Casas was fifth in 17:28.4. The top non-Scot finisher was Ridgeview’s Javier Rangel, who was sixth in 17:30.1.
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The SYVL girls race was won by Independence’s Noely Mojarro in 19:12.9, but Highland won the team title with 36 points. Catherine Pitts was the top Highland runner, finishing second in 19:50.1. The Scots then had a pack finish. Liana Monsibais was seventh in 21:04.2; Kayle Gonzalez, eighth, 21:08.2; Haley Nielsen, ninth, 21:21.2; and Camila Monsibais was 10th in 21:41.2.
Besides Mojarro’s win, other non-Scot runners finished among the top six individuals. Ridgeview’s Yuridia Rivas-Sandoval was third in 20:08.2; Bakersfield Christian’s Tyler Panero was fourth in 20:21.9 and Tehachapi’s Jessica Cookson and Alexis Munoz were fifth and sixth in 20:39.6 and 20:41.7, respectively.
In the SSL, Wasco’s girls team won with 19 points and had its five scoring runners in by eighth place. Freshman sensation Natali Gregory led the pack with a time of 17 minutes, 58.6 seconds. Runner-up Sandra Ayala of R.F. Kennedy arrived in 19:53.5 and third-place finisher Bethany Diaz of Chavez Collegiate ran in 20:13.8. The rest of the Wasco scoring runners were Maria Ballesteros, fifth, 21:33.9; Bryanna Figueroa, sixth, 22:06.6; Rubi Osorio, seventh, 22:08.9; and Andreya Maldonado, eighth, 22:26.3.
The boys SSL race saw Wasco score 32 points to claim the team title, but Shafter’s Kevin Camacho won in 16:21.3. The Tigers’ top five runners crossed the finish line by 10th place. They were Angel Villafuente, second, 16:29.9; Christopher Cabanas, fifth, 17:00; Artemio Sanchez, seventh, 17:12.2; Sebastian Espitia, eighth, 17:24.3; and Alexander Hidalgo, 10th 17:52.4.
Two other top runners were Taft’s Rafael Lopez, third, in 16:41.1 and R.F. Kennedy’s Fernando Lopez was fourth in 16:54.5.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
