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South Tahoe girls’ soccer team picks up a win and a tie

Chad Sellmer, Tribune staff writer

The South Tahoe girls’ soccer team got a chance to extract a little revenge against a budding rival in preseason play Saturday.

The team played Reed to a 2-2 tie at home, at least partially easing the sting of a 6-1 loss to Raiders in the zone playoffs last season.

“This game meant a lot to the girls,” said assistant coach Randy Volkmar, who served as head coach in Julia Russell’s absence. “I felt like we controlled the game, that we were definitely the stronger team, but we didn’t capitalize on the other team’s mistakes.”



Tracy Ketelsen and Kelly Meyer scored goals for South Tahoe.

“The team did well because of the midfield play of Ketelsen and Noelle Perini,” Volkmar said.



On Friday, the team defeated North Tahoe 2-0 in another warm-up game.

“That was our first game of the season (and) we had to get the butterflies out,” he added.

Perini and Sybil Robinson scored the team’s goals.

Volkmar said both matches were a good sign that the team has its priorities straight.

“Overall, they were focused on the year ahead of them,” he said. “They are determined to finish first.”

Tuesday is the team’s first league game of the season against Reno at home, beginning at 3:30 p.m.

Whittell spikers reach final

Finishing second in your first tournament of the season has to feel good, especially when it involves much bigger opponents.

Just ask Whittell’s varsity volleyball team, which took second at the Friday and Saturday Dayton tournament, a tune-up for the regular season beginning Tuesday against Incline.

The tournament featured several 3A schools along with 4A Spanish Springs.

The varsity team won the pool with wins over Fernley, Lowry, Portola and Carson’s junior varsity team.

“We had to play Incline in the semifinals,” said Whittell volleyball coach Dan McLaughlin. “It was a very exciting three-game match.”

Whittell won by scores of 25-18, 17-25, 15-11.

“Incline is a very well-coached team, very solid,” McLaughlin added.

Whittell was beaten by Dayton in the finals, 18-25 and 23-25.

“I knew we had a good team, but we have to learn to gel and play together,” he said. “I thought we played very well over the weekend as we started to gel. It was truly a team effort because we had a lot of contributions from everybody.”

McLaughlin noted that Tina Hordzwick and Jackie Marino were named to the all-tournament team.

Also at Dayton, the junior varsity team surprised everyone by winning the tournament.

“They understood what their style is,” McLaughlin said. “They are short but very fast with great ball control and solid defense.

“They understood their roles and won the tournament by doing just that against bigger schools and bigger players.”

Whittell’s JV team beat 3A Lowry in the tourney finals, 14-25, 25-21 and 15-11.

The team also picked up wins over Fernley, Lowry, Portola and Dayton in pool play, along with a semifinals win over Yerinton.

Christina Richardson was named most valuable player.

“She was the best all-around player in the tournament,” he said.

Meri Johnson and Sarah Ingenlyuff were named all-tournament players. Anna Kingman of the varsity squad and Johnson both won the serving portion of the individual skills contest.

WHS ties Atwater

Three shutout defeats and a tie at the Del Campo soccer tournament didn’t upset ninth-year Whittell High boys’ coach Steve Maltase.

Competing against much larger schools, the Warriors received some valuable experience Friday and Saturday in Sacramento.

Whittell (0-4-1) opened with a 1-1 tie with Atwater. Italo Ferreira put Whittell ahead 1-0 but Atwater scored in the final minutes to escape with a tie.

“I was extremely happy. Atwater was one of the better teams in our bracket,” Maltase said.

Whittell finished the tournament by being shut out by Union Mine 2-0, El Camino 4-0 and Will C. Wood 2-0.

“I thought we competed very well for a school our size. To even come out with a tie is a pretty good showing,” Maltase said.

Senior goalkeeper Devin Farnsworth played strong between the posts, according to Maltase.

“He kept us in every game,” Maltase said.

Whittell travels to Damonte Ranch for a 3 p.m. game today in Reno. The WHS girls will play at 5 p.m.

Frosh wins opener with defense

Two points behind at halftime in its season opener on Thursday, the South Tahoe High freshman football team wasn’t about to waste a staunch defensive effort.

The Vikings only allowed Damonte Ranch 48 total yards and caused five fumbles to defeat the new Reno school 18-8 in South Lake Tahoe.

“I don’t know if they got a first down in the second half,” said STHS coach Steve Klug. “The kids just played extremely well in the second, especially defensively.”

Miles Wallace recovered two fumbles and Jake Porter, Chris Diana and Thomas Crist also spearheaded the defensive effort, according to Klug.

The Vikings, under the direction of quarterback Ryan Woods, kept the chains moving on offense, collecting 225 total yards. Jake Fonken rushed for 84 yards on 20 carries and scored once. Miles Stewart scored on two of his eight carries and finished with 45 yards.

Klug was pleased that his offense played turnover-free football on an afternoon marked by torrential downpours.


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