Swimming and Diving - M-A continued to dominate in the pool with wins for 3 of the 4 teams over Mills last Thursday, despite missing several key swimmers. Varsity Girls, Varsity Boys, and JV Boys are all undefeated in PAL, with records of 2-0.  

Sophia Goland (200 Free), Sophie Murff (200 IM and 100 Back), Kate Denend (50 Free), Claire Haldeman (100 Free), and Faith Dunn (500 Free and 100 Breast). Relay races were won for the 200 Medley (Murff, Dunn, Haldeman, Denend); 200 Free (Alexa Finn, Murff, Mary Lane, Denend); and 400 Free (Sophia Goland, Dunn, Sophia Bergmann, Haldeman).

 Varsity Softball - The Bears won 3 games this week, 2 in league play, as they bettered their record to 8-5. On Tuesday the Bears took on El Camino at home.  M-A jumped out to an early lead, scoring all 7 of their runs in the first 3 innings. In the first inning the Bears scored 3 runs on singles by Erin Goode, Emily Katz, Yesenia Garcia, and Sarah Scandalios. In the second inning, M-A scored 3  runs again, getting hits from Brianna Martinez, Jessica Burgos, and Scandalios. The Bears scored their final run on an RBI single by E. Katz in the bottom of the third. The Colts battled back, however, scoring in the third, fourth and sixth innings, but a quick inning by M-A in the top of the seventh secured the 7-6 win. Pitcher E. Katz, battling a severe cold, dug deep and struck out 10, including the last 2 batters of the game, for a gritty performance, backed up by strong play by the Bears in the field, who turned in their first error free performance of the season. On Thursday, the Bears faced Pinewood in a non-league game.  Pinewood scored 4 runs in the first inning, but the Bears refused to give up, scoring 4 runs in the second and 5 in the third. 7 of the 9 starters contributed hits to help the Bears to the win:  Sarah Tiemann with a single and a bases clearing, 3 RBI double, E. Katz and Garcia with RBI doubles, Molly Katz with 2 singles, and Delilah Kline, Monika Gutierrez, and Alice Coleman with singles. While the Bears let Pinewood score early, their defense clamped down in the later innings, with pitcher E. Katz striking out 8 in 7 innings to win the game 10-8. On Friday the Bears traveled north to Jefferson, where E. Katz pitched an 11 strike out, 1 hit shut out. The Bears won 7-0, combining walks and hits by Tiemann, E. Katz, Garcia, Scandalios, Kline and Maddi Zamora to plate 7 runs. While all the Bears showed their defensive prowess this week, Goode, the first baseman, should be recognized for her stellar defense. In addition to her 10 unassisted putouts in the 3 games, she did an excellent job fielding throws from the infield, turning several wild throws into outs. The Bears sole home game this coming week is Tuesday, March 31 when they play a non-league game against Mercy Burlingame. The Bears are away on Monday, March 30 and Friday, April 3 against Lincoln and Terra Nova.

 Varsity Baseball - M-A fell 11-0 at Burlingame on Wednesday. Starting pitcher AJ Lemons got roughed up by a strong Burlingame offense and a lack of defense.He gave up 2 walks, 7 hits, and had 7 runs on 58 pitches. Josh Bogomilsky was called up from the JV team and came in to relieve AJ in the third. Unfortunately, he faced the same challenges. Bogomilsky lasted 2 1/3 innings, walked 3, struck out 1, and allowed 4 runs on 49 pitches. Nick Olson and Brian Coggins put in appearances on the mound in the fifth inning, both faced 2 batters and got 1 strikeout. Matt McGarry came in to close the game in the sixth and had 1 walk and 2 strikeouts on 21 pitches to put this game to rest.

Offense for the Bears was pretty slow but call up Connor Nathan managed to get 1 of the 3 hits for the Bears along with a single by Ryan Klapper and a double down the left field line by Nick Prainito.

 In our second game of the week M-A grabbed the win over Burlingame at home on Friday night. Starting pitcher Kodiak Conrad threw a gem for the win; allowing only 3 walks, 4 hits, and got 7 strikeouts over 7 innings with 1 earned run on 101 pitches.
  

The Bears put on a show offensively with Prainito and Matt Johnston both going 2-4 at the plate. Prainito started it off with a big double to the fence in center that got M-A on the board. Nikolai Tarran managed to make Burlingame pay for hitting him at the plate by scoring a run on it in the second followed by 2 RBI's on a single and a sacrifice fly to center. Max Gardiner manufactured 2 runs out of thin air on a walk and a sacrifice bunt that landed him on first. Tyler Koo had a nice line drive to left for a single and an RBI and Coggins hit a fly ball down the right field line for a single. The next game is on Wednesday, April 1 at Carlmont.

 Boys Varsity Tennis - The Bears emphatically served notice that they are the team to beat in the PAL once again. On Monday the team thrashed third place Woodside 6-1, and on Tuesday the Bears destroyed previously unbeaten Aragon, 7-0, to take sole possession of first place in the PAL. On Thursday, the Bears began the second round of matches, once again beating Hillsdale, 7-0. This win gives M-A an 8-0 record in league and 12-2 overall. In between the PAL matches, cross-town rival Sacred Heart visited M-A, and the Gators got spanked 7-0 by the Bears. Recording wins for the Bears last week were Reed Fratt, Casey Morris, Axel Brenner, Jeffrey Jorgensen, Tyler Ellingson, Camillo Saueressig, Alex Iyer, Danny LaPorte, Zach Novak, Oscar Volpe, Eric Laderman, Nishant Relan, Noah Milman, Jack Jensen, Ajay Shah, Danny McCabe, Chris Iyer, and Theo Novak.  Against Hillsdale, the brothers Novak, senior Zach and freshman Theo, were partnered for the first time and won at #1 doubles. This week, the Bears have two 4 p.m. road matches. On Tuesday, March 31, the Bears travel to Half Moon Bay, and on Thursday, April 2, M-A visits Carlmont. 

 Girls Varsity Lacrosse - Last week the Bears played their most challenging games as they opened league play, traveling to the perennial champions.

On Tuesday, M-A faced Menlo School, who demolished the top ranked team in the Western US the previous week. The Bears started fast with 2 goals from Sally Carlson, but the Knights tied the game minutes later. The teams continued to traded goals with Annie Payne and Amanda Wiseman each scoring. Fifteen minutes into the first, the game was tied at four when the Knights went on a 5-0 run that proved to be the difference. The Bears scored the final 4 goals, but lost 14-9. M-A got strong defense from Cathrine Petersen and Kelly Woods. Also scoring for the Bears were Emma Roellig and Izzy Regonini.

On Friday the Bears traveled to the reigning league champions, Sacred Heart Prep. The Bears scored first with Roellig finding the back of the net, but the Gators responded with a 4-0 run. The Bears answered with goals from Wiseman and Lauren McGinnis, but at the half, SHP was up 5-3. The second half was a different matter. Coach Mittlemann made defensive adjustments and the Bears' senior trio of Morgan Corona, Gianna Prainito, and Hannah Wilson locked down the defense limiting the Gators to a single second half goal. Offensively Carlson began winning the draw and quickly transitioning to goal. Sophomore Regonini scored 2 goals in 9 seconds. McGinnis, Emma Easton, and Grace Tully quickly followed as the Bears went on a 5-0 run giving M-A its first victory over SHP in three years, 10-6.

This week the Girls stay on the road with a 3:45 p.m. game on Tuesday, March 31 versus Castilleja (to be played at Palo Alto High School) and a 6:30 p.m. game on Thursday, April 2 at Carlmont.

Boys JV Volleyball - M-A won their first match beating Aragon 3-2. The Bears won the first set in a close 25-22 win. The second set was won narrowly by Aragon. The third set was off to a great start with sophomore Ryan Le serving 8 points in a row to give the Bears a healthy start to the final set. Blocks by freshman Dimitri Sakalia and Collin Shen helped defend against strong kills and serves from Aragon. Setters Le and Spencer Montague-Alamin gave Guiann Lacbayan and Noah Shermis opportunities for kills. M-A won the deciding set 15-12.

Boys Varsity Volleyball - The Bears had a big week. After losing in a close contest to Aragon on Tuesday, M-A headed to a tournament in Watsonville on Saturday to face 15 other Bay Area teams. The Bears stared down tough competition and scored impressively and finished 6th out of 16 teams. A huge test of this new boys volleyball team against much more seasoned opponents! Congratulations!