New S.F. Bay Area Volleyball Top 10

San Ramon Valley makes its move as NCS Division I favorites and is now starting to make its way up the rankings.

Only one ranked team lost last week, and that was a very inconsistent San Jose Presentation, which went down in five sets to Westmont of Campbell in the CCS playoffs despite winning one of the games 25-6.

Consideration was given to bringing in Westmont to replace Presentation, but because of Presentation’s erratic play this year, coupled with the fact Westmont has losses to small schools, meant the nod went to the CIF North Coast Section Division I top seed San Ramon Valley of Danville.

Since back-to-back losses in early September to Palo Alto and Campolindo, the Wolverine girls are 27-1 and won the East Bay Athletic League with a 14-0 record.

Note: This week’s rankings do not include any Wednesday matches in the CCS and NCS playoffs. For this week’s NEW State Top 20 that include Tuesday matches, CLICK HERE.

Watch highlights of the Bay Area’s best teams every Sunday at 7 p.m. on KOFY, Channel 20, San Francisco.

2. (2) Valley Christian (San Jose) 30-8
The Warriors are in good shape heading into the CCS Division III semis on Wednesday against Aptos. Trent Dilfer will not be rooting for his almamater in that match.

3. (4) Branson (Ross) 30-6
The Cal-Hi Sports Caravan couldn’t make last Saturdays 3-0 blitz by the CIF North Coast Section Division V top seed of San Francisco International in the quarterfinals, but we were able to stop by a practice and despite the Bulls being a D5 enrollment school, we could see why they deserve to be state ranked. The team is very deep for a small school, and has a big-time hitter in Sarah Wallace. The 5-10 outside hitter only had 15 kills in the 25-11, 25-16, 24-14 win over International, but three weeks ago she had 32 kills in a 3-2 victory over Marin County Athletic League and state-ranked rival Redwood. “That was definitely a highlight of the season for me,” a grinning Wallace told Cal-Hi Sports. Next up is a Wednesday semifinal at College of Marin against No. 4 seed Head-Royce of Oakland.

4. (4) Redwood (Larkspur) 38-5
The Giants are working their way through the NCS D2 playoffs as the top seed and still look like the strongest challenged to Mitty in the upcoming CIF Div. II NorCal playoffs.

5. (5) Menlo (Atherton) 27-5
In order to make room for some large school powers from Southern California, the Lady Knights were dropped from the state rankings last week despite not losing. This past week, as the CCS Division IV top seed, the girls from the lower Peninsula started with a bye, and then took a sold three set victory from No. 8 seed Belmont Notre Dame 25-16, 25-15 and 25-13.

6. (6) Homestead (Cupertino) 24-7
There is nowhere to move for the CCS Division I second seed after the Mustangs’ prancing wore down visiting No. 7 seed Gunn of Palo Alto, in a 25-18, 25-19, 25-11 victory. The Cupertino girls’ semifinal opponent will be a No. 3 seeded Salinas team that needed five sets to defeat sixth-seeded Belmont Carlmont.

7. (7) Sacred Heart Cathedral (San Francisco) 27-7
The CCS Division III second-seeded Irish girls did the jig in a 25-14, 25-13, 25-14 victory over San Mateo Hillsdale. Nest up is a Wednesday semifinal match against upstart Burlingame.

8. (8) St. Francis (Mountain View) 24-12
The Lancers needed four sets to dispose of a Woodside team coming off an upset victory over D2 top-seeded Menlo-Atherton of Atherton.

9. (9) Los Altos 30-5
The CCS D2 No. 2 seed needed four sets to defeat a stubborn visiting Los Gatos team to advance to the semifinals where they meet the third-seeded team right above them in the rankings.

10. (NR) San Ramon Valley (Danville) 31-3
After defeating crosstown arch-rival Monte Vista two weeks ago to complete a 14-0 EBAL season, the Wolverines rested with a bye, and then took a four set victory from James Logan of Union City.

Dropped Out: Previous No. 10 Presentation.