High drama in CCS doubles final High drama in CCS doubles final (December 05, 2003)

Lancers' Bustamante, Schnitter end careers with title

By Mark DeVaughn

The St. Francis' girls tennis squad may have missed a Central Coast Section team championship for the seventh consecutive season, but two Lancers finished their seasons with first-place trophies.

Stephanie Schnitter and Monica Martin de Bustamante outlasted Nathalie Rozenblum and Jennifer Fung of Mills in the CCS girls doubles final Nov. 25 at Courtside Club in Los Gatos. The Lancer seniors took home a 6-7 (6-8) 6-0, 7-6 (7-4) victory that was as topsy-turvy as the final score would indicate.

Bustamante and Schnitter gave up only eight points while winning the second set of the final, 6-0. Other than that, it was a thoroughly entertaining display between two evenly matched opponents. Long rallies, crisp backhands and volley winners were norms throughout.

With a 2002 CCS singles title to her credit, Schnitter teamed with Bustamante -- who was on the No. 1 doubles team for St. Francis during the regular season -- to score some postseason glory of sorts for coach Lynn Horiye, whose squad fell in the CCS semifinals after winning the West Catholic Athletic League crown.

Not since Megan Moore and Michelle Steingart won it all in 1996 had a Lancer girls doubles team taken home a CCS individual championship. St. Francis won team titles in 1994 and 1996 under former coach Gary Dineen.

"You just don't know what's going to happen until you put them out there," Horiye said. "Obviously, Stephanie and Monica are already a couple of talented players. This was fun to watch."

The opening set went down to a tiebreaker, where the Lancer team held a seemingly safe 5-2 advantage. After a Fung passing shot tied it at 5-5, Bustamante double-faulted on set point at 6-5. Three straight points, punctuated by a volley winner from Rozenblum, gave the Mills' tandem the set.

Just as in the first set, neither team held more than a one-game advantage in the deciding third set.

After seeing Bustamante and Schnitter take two of the first three games, the Vikings went up 3-2 on Fung's serve. The Lancers then fell behind 0-30 on Schnitter's serve in the following game before rebounding to tie it 3-3.

Though Schnitter couldn't hold serve while serving for the match at 5-4, it was Bustamante's efforts that sent the set into another tiebreaker when her side trailed 5-6. Her beautiful lob -- a shot aided by some fortuitous winds -- strayed just out of Fung's reach on game point to tie things at 6 games apiece.

Afterwards, Bustamante was anything but self-congratulatory.

"Stephanie Schnitter," answered Bustamante, when asked what made the biggest difference in the match. The two roared through the first two matches of the CCS draw, losing three games combined until taking a three-set victory in their earlier semifinal that same day against Dana Popescu and Christine Yee of CCS and NorCal champion Monta Vista.

Los Altos soccer kicks off

The Los Altos' boys soccer team is playing a lot better than its winless record would indicate.

The Eagles were 0-2 entering their second week of the season, following defeats against Peninsula foes Aragon and Menlo-Atherton. A goal from Jose Luiz Abarca put Los Altos ahead in the season opener against the Dons, but Aragon came out a 2-1 winner.

Another one-goal loss occurred the following game against the Bears, who won 1-0 despite having only two shots-on-goal the entire game against Los Altos. The Eagles in turn were unable to cash in on a host of scoring chances.

"I'm a little biased, but I think we outplayed our opponents in both of those games," remarked head coach Vava Marques, who's entering his fourth season as the team's head coach. "We're a very undersized team. Other teams are going to out-muscle us. But playing tough teams is the only way we're going to get better."

Marques believes plenty of potential exists on Los Altos, a team returning only two starters -- goalkeeper Patrick Conte and midfielder Adam Fletcher -- from a group that made it to the semifinals of the CCS Div. II playoffs last season.

A .500 finish in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League's upper De Anza Division is a worthy goal, according to the head coach.

"Honestly I didn't think we'd be this good right away," said Marques, who coached Foothill College to within a game of the state final four this fall. "The record might not show it, but we're good. We have a lot of smart kids on this team, and that's going to help us win games."

The Eagle girls' squad (2-1 going into the Palo Alto tournament, which began on Dec. 2) is thinking bigger things. Los Altos won a league championship last season for the first time since 1993 en route to making it to the CCS quarterfinals.

Dream match-up in CCS football final

They've won 22 CCS football championships combined, but St. Francis and Palma have only met once (1958) before. The long-overdue showdown between two of the top programs in the section takes place Saturday night at 7 p.m. in the CCS Div. I finals at San Jose City College.

Having won more games in any season since 1995, St. Francis (11-1) is coming off a 31-10 smothering of Serra in the semis. The Lancers forced five Padre turnovers, while the ground game gained 270 yards. Fullback Will Taufoou had a 50-yard scoring run included in his 122 yards rushing.

After grabbing a 24-3 advantage, St. Francis saw Serra cut the lead to 24-10 just before the half. The Padres' faint comeback hopes were officially squashed when Lancer quarterback Kyle Spraker eased into the end zone on a 10-yard keeper.

Spraker totaled 84 yards rushing and 51 yards through the air against Serra. Owners of eight CCS titles -- two of which came in Div. I in 2000 and 2001 -- Palma won a 28-14 decision over Bellarmine in the other semifinal game.

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