NorCal Open Champ St. Francis-Mountain View Assures Itself A Wire-To-Wire No. 1 Finish In The NorCal Volleyball Rankings •
NorCal Volleyball Rankings
All records are through Saturday, Nov. 15. Previous ranking in parenthesis. Record obtained via MaxPreps.
PICTURED ABOVE: Cayman Stein and Sadie Snipes of No. 5 Branson-Ross (Chace Bryson photo)
1. (1) St. Francis-Mountain View 34-0*
2. (2) Archbishop Mitty-San Jose 30-9
3. (3) San Ramon Valley-Danville 28-8
4. (4) Sacred Heart Prep-Atherton 24-6
5. (8) Branson-Ross 22-10*
6. (5) Oak Ridge-El Dorado Hills 32-5
7. (6) Foothill-Pleasanton 28-10
8. (7) Monte Vista-Danville 28-7
9. (9) Marin Catholic-Kentfield 26-11
10. (10) Whitney-Rocklin 31-4
11. (13) St. Mary’s-Stockton 24-8
12. (15) Valley Christian-San Jose 20-10
13. (11) Campolindo-Moraga 25-9
14. (12) Redwood-Larkspur 24-9
15. (20) University-S.F. 28-7
16. (16) St. Ignatius-S.F. 15-18
17. (17) Sacred Heart Cathedral-S.F. 21-11
18. (18) St. Francis-Sacramento 23-9
19. (19) Rocklin 21-15
20. (NR) Amador Valley-Pleasanton 26-9
*= STATE FINALIST
DROPPED OUT:
No. 14 Amador Valley-Pleasanton
5 TEAMS KNOCKING (ALPHABETICALLY):
Amador Valley-Pleasanton (24-7), Bishop O’Dowd-Oakland (30-7), Christian Brothers-Sacramento (23-11), Escalon (33-2) and Vacaville (24-8).
AT THE NET
So, the sixth and final meeting between No. 1 St. Francis and No. 2 Mitty came to be with Tuesday’s NorCal Open championship — and it went just like the previous five. Big ups to the Lancers on an incredible season that will certainly end with them as NorCal’s No. 1. They can finish as the state’s No. 1 as well if they can defeat Cathedral Catholic-San Diego in Saturday evening’s Open state final.
Mitty is locked into No. 2 as well. The Monarchs suffered nine losses this season, and seven came against the two teams playing for the Open Div. state title. St. Francis is the only NorCal team they lost to all season.
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San Ramon Valley-Danville and Sacred Heart Prep-Atherton maintain No. 3 and 4 for now. Branson would potentially have a shot to move above one or both if the Bulls win Friday night’s Division I state championship match against Palos Verdes.
As a few of our readers pointed out last week, Branson should have been the No. 8 seed in the Open Division, or the top seed in Div. I at the very least. We moved the Bulls up three spots this week to No. 5 after their dominant run to a Div. I NorCal crown. (They lost just one set in four regional matches).
Others to move up include Div. I NorCal finalist St. Mary’s-Stockton (two spots to No. 11), and Valley Christian-San Jose (up three to No. 12). The Warriors reached the Div. I semifinals before St. Mary’s knocked them out with a 3-2 win.
University-S.F. climbed five spots to No. 15 after it reached the Div. II NorCal final. The Red Devils got the slot above No. 16 St. Ignatius due to owning a 3-0 head-to-head win over the Wildcats.
Finally, one new team cracked the Top 20 on its final chance. That would be Salinas. The Cowboys debut at No. 20 after pulling off a 3-1 upset win over previous-No. 14 Amador Valley-Pleasanton in a Division I opening-round game. Salinas was bounced from the bracket by Branson. Of the Cowboys nine losses, six will be to teams that finish in the Top 5 of these rankings.