JO water polo (continued from page 28)
said. “I think that gave the (Stanford) guys a feeling they could hang with them.” Stanford rebounded from that loss to Regency and won two more matches to reach Tuesday’s championship match at the William Woollett Aquatic Center in Irvine. Not too surprising, Regency was the opponent. “You know what they say, it’s tough to beat a team three times,” Kreutzkamp said of Regency’s position. While three wasn’t a charm for Regency, it was for Stanford as it rolled to a 15-11 victory for the program’s first Junior Olympic gold medal since 2008 and the first gold by the Red 18-under team since 1993. “We kept learning every time we played them,” Kreutzkamp said. “We kept getting better.” The Stanford Red 18s, who finished eighth in last year’s Junior Olympics but came in this season with a veteran team, set a reachable goal. “Our goal, at first, was to get a medal, get back to the Final Four,” said Kreutzkamp, whose team accomplished that with a 9-7 quarterfinal victory over Santa Barbara Water Polo Club ‘A’ in Monday’s second match. At that point, Kreutzkamp and his players believed they could win a medal. An 11-9 semifinal triumph
over San Diego Shores ‘A’ on Tuesday morning provided that opportunity. “We had a team meeting before the finals,” said Kreutkamp, “and I said to them, ‘We have a medal in our pocket, it’s up to you to pick the color.’” Stanford picked gold, and earned it with a dominating performance over a much-bigger and stronger Regency team. “It wasn’t even close,” Kreutzkamp said. “We were up by one at the half but up by five in the fourth quarter.” The difference in the finals was Stanford’s man-up advantages. “We converted six of seven power plays,” Kreutzkamp said. “When we had our chances, we scored.” While veteran Colin Mulcahy was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, Kreutzkamp said goalie Alex Gow (from Menlo-Atherton) was the key player in the finals. “He had 18 saves. He played out of his mind,” Kreutzkamp said. “Once he started blocking shots, the guys felt comfortable to take off once a shot was taken — figuring Alex would block it.” Gow’s outstanding defense triggered Stanford’s counter attack. “We wanted to turn it into a swim meet,” Kreutzkamp explained. “They (Regency) got kicked out a lot because they were grabbing as we went by them.” It was pretty much a feeling of deja vu for Kreutzkamp, who coached the Stanford Red 16U team to a gold medal in 2008. Six of his
Keith Simon
Sports
The Stanford Water Polo Club’s Red 18U team, led by coach Brian Kreutzkamp (black shirt), brought home the gold medal from the SwimOutlet.com Junior Olympics in Orange County, the team’first gold since 1993. current players were on that team, which played the title match in the same pool at the Woolett Aquatic Center. “Same pool, same core of guys,” Kreutzkamp said. “It felt like it was three years ago.” Those six players — Philip Bamberg, Mark Garner, Peter Simon, Robert Dunlevie, Thomas Agramonte and Mulcahy — won
BANK OF THE WEST CLASSIC
with their first gold after finishing 7-1 over the four-day tourney. “I’m exhausted,” Kreutzkamp said on Wednesday morning after flying home Tuesday night. “It’s been three weeks in a row (of tournaments, two in Orange County). A tough three weeks.” But, a satisfying three weeks? “Very much so,” said Kreutzkamp, “especially after this.” N
World Series
Beres doubled again to lead things off. Wilkins singled in Beres. A perfect hit-and-run by Will Klein (the Oaks were successful on six of seven hit-and-runs), put Wilkins on third with no outs. Palo Alto High grad Evan Warner knocked in a run with a sacrifice fly to put the Oaks up 6-3. However, the Bandido’s came from behind to take the lead at 7-6. Palo Alto showed its heart by tying the score in the top of the next inning and grabbed the lead again in the seventh, when Gaffney and Bona both singled to get things started. Gaffney scored on a wild pitch for an 8-7 lead and a fielder’s choice on a potential double play ground ball by Wilkins allowed Bona to score and it was 9-7. The Bandido’s scratched out a run in the seventh, but Gaffney singled in Warner and Bona drove home Gaffney and it was 11-8 in the eighth. Kleinhoffer needed only six outs at that point for the Oaks to secure their second straight trip to the World Series. A perfect eighth inning put the Oaks within three outs. But the Bandido’s did not quit. A leadoff walk was followed by a single to put runners on first and second. A flyout to center set up a memorable play for the Oaks. Will Klein got the ball from center and instead of giving it to Kleinhoffer, hid it in his glove. Kleinhoffer waited on the back side of the mound and when the runner on second wandered off the bag, Klein tagged him to complete the hidden-ball trick. Kleinhoffer then sent the Oaks to the World Series when he struck out the final batter. N
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Latest title just a start for Serena by Rick Eymer
S
Harjanto Sumali
erena Williams is a champion once again. The rest of the WTA Tour should be weary of her presence this summer leading up to the U.S. Open in September. She has that gleam in her eye. Williams captured her first tour title in over a year, and became the first American woman to win on U.S. soil since she won the Open in 2008, by defeating a worthy challenger in Marion Bartoli, 7-5, 6-1, Sunday in the championship match of the $721,000 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford’s Taube Family Tennis Center. “I take every tournament really serious and it’s even more so now,” Williams said after collecting the $111,000 prize. “Having the opportunity to be healthy and be here, I’m just so grateful and definitely excited by it.” Williams hadn’t won a tournament since last year’s Wimbledon, having missed nearly a year due to a series of medical and physical issues. She’s not taking anything lightly, and especially her 38th career championship, and a paycheck that sent her over $33 million for her career. “It was a great crowd. Coming back and hearing them clap when I walk out there are moments that I truly missed,” she said. “It’s so awesome to be back and a part of those moments. I take pride in having fans come out, watch me and be supportive. It means so much.” It means a lot because she had to overcome blood clots in her lungs, two foot operations and a long rehab. “Not everyone can be a star,” she said. “I don’t know if ‘star’ sounds full of myself, but I’ve worked hard for that title. So, yes, I say it and I take pride in it.” She’s underestimating herself. With 13 Grand Slam titles to her credit, Williams could have called herself a superstar and no one would have twitched. She entered the event unseeded and ranked 169th in the world. On Monday morning she broke into the top 80, checking
two gold medals and one silver in four years. All but Dunlevie have played together for seven years, with Dunlevie joining the group in 2006. All that experience paid off once again and provided teammates Daniel Schwartz, Alex Bagdasarian, Dante Cavazos, Casey Fleming, Patrick Goodenough, Nick Hale, Max Schell, Adam Warmoth and Gow
Serena Williams showed she’s back from injuries by winning the 2011 Bank of the West Classic. in at No. 79. “I hated those triple digits,” she said. “I actually think it was funny. But now I want to get to single digits.” Williams played brilliant, inspired tennis over the last three days of the tournament, routing fifth-ranked Maria Sharapova in the quarterfinals, dominating 26thranked Sabine Lisicki in the semifinals and taking control against the ninth-ranked Bartoli in the finals. In the doubles final, the No. 2-seeded team of Victoria Azarenka and Maria Kirilenko defeated the No. 1 duo of Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond, 6-1, 6-3. The winners took home $35,500 with the runner-up squad earning $18,500. N
Matson), (Bryan) Beres, and (Matt) Campbell do so because they love the game and can still play at a high level. If they couldn’t, they wouldn’t be on the team!” Kleinhoffer came on in relief in Sunday’s championship game and got the victory, with the help of a hidden-ball play and a final strikeout. Campbell struck out two in the bottom of the 11th to get the save in Game 2. Palo Alto needed to win only three games during the weekend after the NorCal No. 2 team, the Longhorns, dropped out of the tournament due to a prior commitment. Brant Norlander started the championship game for the Oaks, who jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second inning. Jeff Ramirez singled and stole second. Bryan Beres doubled down the left-field line to score Ramirez. Sam Wilkins hit a triple over the left-fielder’s head to plate Beres and then scored on an errant pickoff attempt. The Oaks scored another run in the top of the third when Allen Stiles led off with a single. Stiles was caught stealing for the first out. Gaffney walked and advanced to third on a single by Anthony Bona. Nick Borg drove home Gaffney with a deep fly to centerfield for a 4-0 lead. But the Bandido’s, with a reputation for having a lot of heart, came right back in the bottom of the third with three runs. The Oaks lengthened their lead with two more runs in the fourth.
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