Varsity girls’ golf team ends great season

After finishing first in the Mt. Hamilton Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League with an 11-1 record, the girls’ golf team went to the League Finals hoping to beat strong teams like Gunn and Leland.

Unfortunately for the Falcons, they finished fourth and missed CCS as a team.

Coach Dave Gragnola attributed the team’s unprecedented success to the improved consistency of the entire team's scores.

"The team worked hard at practice and it’s paying with our scoring," Gragnola said.

Players also cited their success this season to close, solid team scores.

“We don't have any outliers," senior Sanjna Verma said. "Because we're so close together in scores, we generally shoot better overall.”

According to sophomore No. 1 player Vivian Roan, a few exceptional players aren’t enough to make a great season.

“Everyone’s getting better and our No. 5 and No. 6 score really well,” Roan said. “Not just the highest scorers. Our whole team has really good scores.”

The Falcons’ greatest challenger this season was Leland. The team narrowly missed the win over Leland on Oct. 10 by one point.

Roan and senior Samika Kumar scored the lowest averages this season, earning the top two places on the team. Juniors Zabrina Chang and Sachi Verma and seniors Sanjna Verma and Sara Pettersson have also scored well. In addition to the continued success of veteran players, new faces on the team contributed to a great season.

“The biggest surprise is the consistent scoring of freshman Ankitha Sarvesh,” Gragnola said. Sarvesh is one of six starters, despite being new to the team. 

The team hopes to continue improving on their success next year with even lower scores. Pettersson, Sachi Verma and junior Halle Champion qualified individually for CCS in the 2011 school year. However, like this year, the team’s scores were not enough to qualify as a whole.

”Last year we had three players make CCS as individuals.” Gragnola said. “Next year we need new number five and six players so we can continue our success.”

Next year, the Falcons will miss three key graduating players, Kumar, Pettersson and Sanjna Verma. They anticipate working extra hard in order to achieve the same success they did this year.

“I don’t think we will be as strong,” Roan said. “We need a lot of players to improve so that we can do as well next year.”