Sacred Heart Prep, Menlo finish among top five at Spikefest

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Menlo senior outside Sharon Nejad delivered 40 kills on .615 hitting in 10 sets at Spikefest on Saturday. Photo taken Aug. 28, 2021 by Pam McKenney/Menlo Athletics.

Sacred Heart Prep and Menlo School each won four of its five girls volleyball matches on Saturday to finish in the top five of the 32-team Spikefest at Independence and Milpitas high schools.

Menlo reached the finals of Bracket B, beating Castilleja 25-22, 25-24, and Carlmont 25-17, 25-10, before losing to eventual champion Mitty, 25-20, 25-23.

The Knights rebounded with a pair of victories to win the Silver Division and place fifth overall.

Sacred Heart Prep went 3-0 in Bracket C, earning victories over Independence 25-11, 25-9, Carlmont, 25-17, 25-10 and Valley Christian 23-25, 25-22, 15-12.

The Gators qualified for the Championship Division, where they lost to Mitty 25-16, 25-22, in the semifinals and came back to beat Notre Dame Belmont 21-25, 25-7, 15-13 for third place overall, their highest finish at the Spikefest.

Menlo beat Valley Christian 25-17, 25-20, and Los Gatos 25-18, 25-17, in the Silver Division for fifth place.

Palo Alto placed 10th overall, followed by Los Altos and Gunn, with all three playing in the Bronze Division.

Castilleja won four straight matches after losing to Menlo and captured the Red Division title, placing 17th overall.

Woodside finished in 22nd place, playing in the White Division.

Palo Alto opened the tournament with a convincing 25-7, 25-19 victory over Santa Clara but then fell to Valley Christian in a tough 3-setter, 22-25, 25-21, 15-10.

The Vikings nudged Lynbook 25-23, 25-18, to earn a spot in the Bronze Division, where they beat Gunn 23-25, 25-15, 15-5 before losing to St. Ignatius, 25-19, 22-25, 15-10.

Los Altos also won its opener, beating Wilcox 25-11, 25-16, and then fell to Aragon 25-20, 25-20.

The Eagles came back to beat Evergreen Valley 25-13, 25-11 for a spot in the Bronze Division, where they lost to St. Ignatius and then beat Gunn for 11th place.

Senior Carolyn Dormady and junior Kaitlyn Lee have been the early kill leaders for Los Altos, while senior Emma Symon has been an effective blocker.

Senior Kaitlyn Cuppett and junior Megan Wong have shared setting duties while junior Shannon McCabe is the teams early digs leader.

Castilleja topped Saratoga and Christopher for a shot at the consolation title. The Gators did just that by beating Presentation 25-13, 27-25, and Fremont 25-17, 25-16.

Woodside lost its opener to Valley Christian and then rebounded with a win over Santa Clara before dropping a match to Presentation.

The Wildcats topped Christopher 25-16, 20-25, 15-13 and then fell to Cupertino 25-21, 25-21, in the finals of the White Division.

Mitty beat Sacred Heart Cathedral 25-18, 25-8, in the tournament championship match.

For Menlo, senior outside hitter Sharon Nejad finished with a team-high 40 kills (4.0 average per set) and recorded a hitting percentage of .615.

Menlo senior Hanna Hoffman had 21 kills and 48 assists in 10 sets at Spikefest on Saturday. Photo taken Aug. 28, 2021 by Pam McKenney/Menlo Athletics.

Fellow seniors Hanna Hoffman had 21 kills on .477 hitting, 48 assists, five aces and four blocks, and Zoe Gregory posted team-highs with 64 assists and 14 aces.

Nejad recorded a kill to bring the Knights within 20-19 of the first set against Mitty. Menlo and the Monarchs were tied at 21 in the second set.

Nejad, junior Emma Donley and sophomore Cleo Hardin combined for 18 kills against Mitty. Seniors Alli McKenney, Kami Israelski and junior outside hitter Brooke Dombkowski combined for 21 digs.

Overall, Dombkowski added 12 kills and a team-high 20 digs while Israelski had 17 digs and five aces. Senior Hallie MacDonald added six aces and 12 digs and McKenney added 14 digs.

Donley finished with 20 kills on .514 hitting and put up five blocks while Hardin added 18 kills for the Knights.

Menlo (5-1) sees Valley Christian again when it travels to San Jose for a 6:30pm match against the Warriors on Tuesday.

Sacred Heart Prep (5-1) visits Menlo-Atherton for a 6:30 nonleague match Tuesday, while Palo Alto (4-2) travels to Mitty for a 6 p.m. start, Los Altos (3-3) hosts Leland with a 6:45 p.m. first serve and Gunn (3-3) hosts Hillsdale at 6:45 p.m.

Castilleja (5-1) visits Mountain View (1-0) for a 6:30 p.m. match Wednesday and Woodside (2-3) hosts Gunn on Tuesday, Sept. 7 at 6:15 p.m.

By Rick Eymer