Once again, the women’s lacrosse team had another great season.

The girls finished 17-6 overall, 5-2 in league, earned the third seed and reached the NCS semifinals before losing to Amador Valley. This marked the sixth straight season  the girls reached NCS.

After destroying Rancho Cotate 20-1 in the first round of NCS, the Grizzlies edged league rival Carondelet 6-4 in the quarterfinals.

In the semifinals, Cal hosted another league rival in Amador Valley, but the girls weren’t able to beat them like they did twice in the regular season. The Grizzlies lost 14-10.

“Overall we had a great season and did good in NCS,” said junior captain Morgan Taylor. “I’m very proud of this team.”

After losing their first game to San Ramon Valley, Cal went on to win six of their next seven games to get their season off to a good start. The ladies’ biggest victory came on April 24 against Livermore by a score of 17-1.

Cal finished off the season with five wins in a row, including big wins over league rivals Carondelet and Amador.

“Our proudest moment was beating Carondelet with a running clock on senior night,” said junior Shivani Sharma. “We haven’t beaten them in four years.”

Men’s Volleyball

The volleyball team had an excellent season after going 21-5 overall and 11-3 in league. Their record helped them earn a fourth seed in NCS.

But Cal lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Deer Valley. Before this season, the team had not made NCS since 2012.

The team finished third in EBAL behind Amador Valley and De La Salle, both of which went 12-2 in league.

In total, the team swept five of their league matches. On April 16, the guys had a big 3-2 victory over Amador. But losses to De La Salle, Amador, and Foothill held Cal back from winning EBAL.

“The season had a lot of ups and downs toward the beginning,” said junior captain Cameron Owoc. “But toward the end we started to figure things out and became a more polished team.”

After receivinga first round bye in NCS, Cal managed to take down Dougherty Valley in four sets in the quarterfinals. Cal won the first, second, and fourth set by scores of 25-17, 25-21, and 32-30, respectively.

In the semifinals, Cal faced off against the two-time defending NCS champion Deer Valley. Cal started this game off strong winning the first set 25-22. But the Grizzlies lost the next three sets to get knocked out of NCS.

Men’s Tennis

The men’s tennis team finished the year with a 11-8 record overall, 6-8 in league, and placed fifth in the EBAL.

Cal’s tennis team qualified for NCS and earned the 11th seed. In the first round, Cal faced off against No. 6 seed De La Salle.

But Cal was severely overmatched as the team lost all seven of their matches. Junior Austin Fan led the team in NCS with 18 points. But he won only one of his three sets.

“The toughest part of the season for us was losing to De La Salle at NCS,” said Fan.

Even though their season didn’t turn out the way the wanted it to, the team still had a great time together and formed new bonds with each other.

“What made this team great was how close everyone was,” said coach Manuel Vasquez. “It was truly a team.”

Swim And Dive

Senior Cole Melloch placed eighth at NCS in Concord on May 14 to highlight the diving team’s season.

After performing 11 dives, Melloch earned a total score of 311.30.

“During NCS, I did not feel pressure while competing because I had been preparing for a long time,” said Melloch.

For the women’s team, junior Dana Kudelka  placed 13th with a score of 292.10, while sophomore Lauren Ginney got 15th place with a score of 289.15.

“NCS was a great experience and I was lucky to have made it there along with my awesome teammates,” said Kudelka.

The swimming team competed in NCS on May 15-16. The women’s team finished in 11th place out of 36 teams with 78.5 points. The men’s team finished in 18th place after earning a score of 39 points.

Seniors Aileen Lee and Kaya Philapil both swam superb races. Lee finished second in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:02.32. Philapil’s time of 1:02.87 in the 100 breaststroke earned her fifth place.

In the boys 100 breaststroke, senior Jacob Wooldridge finished seventh with a time of 57.28 seconds. Junior Vincent Huang had a time of 57.78 to earn 11th place.

Baseball

For the seventh year in a row, the Grizzlies qualified for NCS after finishing their season 12-13 overall, 6-8 in league.

But their season came to an end after their loss in the first round to Foothill.

Cal earned the eighth seed and faced No. 9 seed Foothill. Both teams put up great pitching,  but Foothill ended up winning 3-2 after a late rally.

“It was a fun season,” said junior Mitchell Briggs. “But we didn’t get the end result that we wanted.

Cal played against a tough EBAL this year as seven of the eight teams in league made it into NCS. The team struggled to beat powerhouses such as De La Salle and Monte Vista.

But Cal did have some big wins in league, including a 7-1 win over Foothill on April 3. Junior pitcher Liam Steigerwald led the team in this game.

Men’s Golf

As a whole, it was a very disappointing season for the men’s golf team as they went 1-17 overall. 1-13 in league. The team’s only victory was a 228-231 win over Livermore.

But the team was one of 21 schools in the entire section to qualify for NCS.

“The season was tough because we only won one match,” said junior Nick Boehler. “But our coaches helped us keep our heads up.”

Individually, junior Joey Holden and sophomore Josh Candeub had strong seasons. Holden shot one over par against Dublin on Feb. 19 and two over against San Ramon on March 26.

Candeub shot three over against San Ramon and De La Salle on March 26 and April 23, respectively.

On May 11, Cal sent six golfers to compete in NCS at Monarch Bay. At NCS, freshman Grant Shimizu and sophomore Candeub both had a score of 19 over to lead the team.

Men’s Lacrosse

The men’s lacrosse team did not qualify for NCS despite finishing 14-7 overall, 3-4 in league.

The team had big victories over Dougherty Valley and Amador where they won by a score of 13-6 and 10-7, respectively. But the team struggled to beat powerhouse schools like De La Salle and Monte Vista.

“The season was a lot of fun and it was a great learning experience for me,” said sophomore Trent Thompson.

Even though Cal did not make it to NCS, the team still learned a lot from this year and have room to grow for next year.

“We still have high hopes for next year and look to be a competitive team once again,” said coach Chris Ambler.

Softball

After a very mediocre season, the softball team did not qualify in NCS. The ladies finished their season 6-18 overall, 1-13 in league.

The team started off their season very well against their non-league opponents as they went 4-2 to start the season. Cal had a huge victory as it shutout Liberty 12-0 on March 12.

Once league play started, the girls struggled to produce offense. In total, the girls allowed 80 runs and only scored 26 runs in league games.

“The toughest part of the season was probably trying to get out of our big hitting slump we were in at the beginning of league,” said junior Lisa Alvarez.

The team’s two biggest victories were over San Ramon Valley and Granada.

“Our proudest moment was beating San Ramon Valley in extra innings at the Livermore Stampede Tournament,” said senior captain Kassie Kochan.

The ladies beat Granada 5-2 on April 23. This was their only victory in league. The team has a lot of underclassmen coming back next year and is looking to compete in league and NCS.