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It was an upbeat 2009 season of determined and constantly improving team play for Sonoma Valley High School's water polo squads that came to an end at Saturday's annual Redwood Empire League postseason tournaments at Redwood High School in in Larkspur.

Sonoma's boys' and girls' teams - coached by Sean Mullen - both the fourth seeds in the REL tourneys, were downed by top-seed Marin Academy in the semifinals, and were then edged in their consolation matches by Cardinal Newman and Ursuline, respectively. Pacing the Dragon boys (6-11 overall record) in their 10-3 defeat to Marin Academy were senior goalie Mason Thomsen's eight blocked shots and four steals; senior Paul Sokoloski's two goals and one block; Dominic Amara's and Sean Hammett's two steals and one assist each; senior Clarke Campion's two steals; senior Peter Armstrong's one goal; and senior Zachary Adams' one steal.

The Dragons were paced in their 13-9 loss to Newman by Thomsen's 14 blocks and three steals; Amara's three goals, one assist and one steal; Armstrong's two goals, two steals, one assist and one block; Sokoloski's two goals and one assist; Campion's one goal and one steal; Hammett's one assist and one steal; and senior Jeff Shoemaker's one goal and one assist. Pacing the Lady Dragons (3-15) in their 11-1 defeat to Marin Academy were senior goalie Eva Lindstrom's 12 blocks; sophomore Ghitta Ferrara's five steals and one goal; and freshman Rose Greenberg's one steal.

The Sonoma girls were paced in their 3-1 loss to Ursuline by Lindstrom's 12 blocks and one steal; Ferrara's four steals and one goal; junior Marissa Bragstad's two blocks; and junior Maeve Greenberg's one steal.

Sonoma's varsity volleyball girls completed their regular season with a Sonoma County League victory at Healdsburg by scores of 25-12, 21-25, 25-17 and 25-22 last Thursday night, which earned them a third-place finish and a spot in the annual postseason SCL Tournament. The Lady Dragons (19-12 overall record, 7-5 SCL) will play their opening-round tourney, 7 p.m. match tonight at second-seed co-champion Petaluma, with top-seed co-champion Analy hosting fourth-seed Windsor this evening. Winners of the first-round matches face off for the SCL tourney title this Thursday night, Nov. 5, at the highest seed's court.

In their SCL-ending road victory over Healdsburg, the Lady Dragon spikers were led by sophomore setter Jersey Witous' 29 assists; senior libero Lauren Fisher's 16 digs; junior Kaylee Vollert's 15 digs; senior Kendall Smith's 12 kills, six digs and four serving aces; senior Sophia Somers' 12 digs and seven kills; and senior Sofia Ziemienski's and junior Molly Lyons' six kills each.

Sonoma's tennis girls, coached by Mary Kate Dreyer, were topped 6-1 by El Molino in their SCL dual-match finale last Thursday in Forestville, with six Lady Dragon netters currently preparing to compete in the SCL Singles and Doubles tournaments taking place this Thursday and Friday, Nov. 5 and 6, at the Santa Rosa Junior College campus.

The Lady Dragons' No. 1 and No. 2 netters, seniors Jessica Forchione and Gianna Johns, respectively, will battle in the singles tourney, while the senior pairings of Mackenzie Kelley and Laura Harvey, and Alexandra Zaualeta and Elisa Merino, will play in the doubles event.

Against El Molino, the lone Dragon winners were Merino and freshman

Jessica Johnston, who beat Harrison and Brooks at No. 2 doubles.

Sustaining Sonoma's losses were Forchione's 3-6, 1-6 defeat to Graves at No. 1 singles; Johns' 4-6, 7-5, 3-6 loss to Halpern at No. 2 singles; Harvey's 0-6, 2-6 defeat to Deis at No. 3 singles; Kelley's 3-6, 4-6 loss to Koenig at No. 4 singles; Zaualeta's and frosh Courtney Struthers' 4-6, 2-6 defeat to Paddock and Carpenter at No. 1 doubles; and sophomore Meagan Durfee's and frosh Francesca Stornaiuoio's 2-6, 4-6 loss to O'Donnell and Leepin at No. 3 doubles.

Playing SCL exhibition doubles matches for Sonoma were the pairings of junior Tina Wong and sophomore Sophie Howard; junior Elsa Martinez and frosh Anna Robles; frosh Raquel Rios-Gomez and Regina Mellinger; and sophomore Mackenzie Lawrence and frosh Adelia Gregory.

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