Carlmont volleyball knocks Mitty off its top-ranked national perch
It was hardly shocking that Archbishop Mitty opened the girls volleyball season ranked No. 1 in the nation by MaxPreps.
The Monarchs returned nearly their entire roster from a team that won the state's first Open Division championship last season and have a pedigree no other program in California can match: 13 state championships overall, including five in a row.
But the Monarchs probably won't be No. 1 nationally much longer.
Last weekend, at the traditional season-opening Milpitas Spikefest, Carlmont pulled off the stunner of the tournament, beating Mitty 25-20, 14-25, 15-13 on its way to a third-place finish at the event, behind champion St. Ignatius and runner-up Sacred Heart Cathedral. Mitty took fifth.
“Every time we've started No. 1, we lose the first weekend we play,” Mitty coach Bret Almazan-Cezar said.
What happened? “They played well,” said AlmazanCezar, whose team went 4-1 at the tournament. “They played out of their minds. They were kind of amazing. They're very athletic. They're very good.”
Maya McClellan had 47 kills, 30 digs, five aces and five blocks in five matches for Carlmont, which also beat St. Francis.
The historic win over Mitty probably means that the Scots will be in the Central Coast Section's best-ofthe-best division come playoff time.
“I don't know if this is good or bad, but welcome to the Open Division,” Almazan-Cezar said. “You've got that one win that every other school is going to sit there and go, ‘You beat Mitty. You have to go to the Open.' ”
Of course, there is a lot of volleyball to be played before then.
But no matter what unfolds, Carlmont can say now and forever that on one weekend in 2017, it beat a storied opponent that was ranked No. 1 in the nation.
Football
Foothill quarterback Ben Wooldridge, who is committed to Fresno State and new coach Jeff Tedford, has a Grade 1 to 2 AC joint separation and will be out 3-4 weeks, according to Foothill coach Matt Sweeney. Better news than Sweeney was anticipating, as the coach thought Wooldridge would be sidelined 6-8 weeks. Still, not great news because the Falcons' schedule is front-loaded.