The Amador Valley boys’ tennis team had cruised through the East Bay Athletic League unbeaten and in first place.
That was until the final match of the regular season on April 28, when they ran into crosstown rival Foothill.
In the first meeting of the year, the Dons took out the Falcons with both teams unbeaten by a tight 5-4 win.
This time the Falcons turned the table, knocking off the Dons 6-3.
Five of the nine matches were decided in the third set in the match that ultimately gave Foothill the EBAL championship.
Aniketh Poruri, Christopher Lee, Matthew Chen and Nick Tagalog all took their singles matches for the Falcons. In doubles, the teams of Ankur Hangal/Komal Pamujula and Annas Joyo/Ahan Trivedi won their matches.
Amador hockey
The Dons won both of their games last week.
First up, the Dons beat Monte Vista 10-7. Neil Johnson led the scoring with 4 goals, while Ryder Lahrs had 2 goals and 2 assists. Rae Kerton had 3 assists.
Next up the Dons beat Granada by a score of 9-1. Johnson had 3 goals and 2 assists, while Lahrs and Brett Patzer each recorded a goal and a pair of assists.
Preston Elliott and Will Coultrip also contributed a goal and assist. Alexander Vaughn played well in the net with 15 saves.
Boys’ volleyball
The Dons had all three of their matches go five sets, coming out of the week 2-1.
They first traveled to Dublin and stormed back from an 0-2 hole to win the last three sets and the match.
The Dons were paced by Jackson Mello (7 service points), Max Riter (12 service points, 14 digs), Luke Melvin (14 kills, 17 digs), Nate Clinton (23 kills, 12 digs) and Colin Bowers (44 assists).
Next up was a chance to avenge their only league loss against Granada, but the Mats prevailed again in the five-set thriller. Leading Amador was Tyler Homes (17 kills), Clinton (16 kills, 24 digs), Bowers (55 assists, 4 blocks) and Melvin (21 kills, 10 service points).
In the final match of the week, the Dons edged Foothill, in yet another five-set thriller. The Dons were led by their four seniors Logan Bayani, Dylan Boswell, Ethan Gray and Sean Vahey.
In addition to its seniors, Amador got good play from Aiden Husejnovic (4 blocks), Clinton (26 kills, 2 aces) and Homes (18 kills).
Leading the way for Foothill in the rival match were Landen Meonske (45 assists, 16 digs), Tyler Keala (19 kills, 6 digs) and Zach Seraj (14 kills, 6 digs).
In their other game of the week, the Falcons defeated Dublin. Highlights came from Keala (14 kills, 9 digs, 3 aces), Seraj (13 kills, 9 digs) and Noah Mitzenmacher (13 digs, 5 aces).
Foothill baseball
The Falcons won a pair of games to take control of the EBAL Valley Division.
The week started with a 9-0 win over Granada. Nate Novitske had a pair of hits and drove in 2 runs for the Falcons. Tyler Tarpley also had a pair of hits.
Jackson Flora went 5 innings, allowing only 2 hits and struck out 6.
Foothill ended the week with a 6-2 win over Dublin. Tarpley again had 2 hits and drove in a pair of runs. Nick Walsh had 2 hits and scored twice. Jack Basseer added a home run.
Tyler Gebb went 6 innings on the mound, giving up 4 hits and striking out 3.
Foothill golf
The Falcons finished off the last week of regular season golf in style.
On April 25, they won the Transbay Tournament at Rossmoor by four shots. Chanhee Ryu shot the low round of the tournament with an 8-under-par, 64.
One day later, Foothill gave De la Salle their first loss of the year 187-192. Brandon Yen had the low round with a 36. Finally, they knocked off San Ramon Valley 194-210, with Sean Kwok shooting a 37.
Editor’s note: Dennis Miller is a contributing sports writer for the Pleasanton Weekly. To contact him about his Pleasanton Preps column, email [email protected]