Girls’ Golf drives through undefeated season, places 7th at CCS

By Harleen Kaur

PHHS Girls’ Golf Team ended their undefeated season after competing at CCS. The team won BVALs and continued to compete after they qualified to compete at CCS (Central Coast Section).

After ending their undefeated season of 10-0, the team was able to qualify for BVALS (Blossom Valley Athletic League). BVALs took place in Santa Teresa on Oct. 29.

“BVALs is a competition where the top three teams and individuals of the league compete to go to CCS,” said Girls’ Golf Team Captain Rachel Truong.

The team played against schools such as Leland, Live Oak and Silver Creek. 

The team also won many matches and took first place in BVALs.

After BVALs, the team qualified to play in the CCS league because of their undefeated record. The girls traveled to Monterey to compete in CCS to play against other schools in the CCS competition.

 Some scores from CCS: Shannon Abitago, 78; Vani Karamanal, 74; Rachel Truong, 79. In golf, the lower score is the higher you place.

The team placed seventh overall with a score of 444. They lost to teams such as Palo Alto, Valley Christian and Harker. The team was not able to qualify as NorCal Regional Qualifiers and ended their season after the CCS matches. 

“I thought I did good, and I am proud of our team for being the first (golf) team from Piedmont Hills to qualify and make it this far,” expressed sophomore Simriti Mahajan.

This year, the school had an actual Girls’ Golf Team. For the past years, there was not a team for the girls since there were not enough girls interested in joining or playing on a Girls’ Golf Team. Since there was no team for the girls last year, the few girls who were interested in golf played and practiced with the PHHS Boys’ Golf Team during the boys’ season. 

 Last year, the girls wanted to compete in BVALs, so they played as individuals representing PHHS at BVALs.

“We are no longer practicing or playing with the Boys’ Golf Team because this year we have an actual team for the girls,” said Truong.

The team practiced for matches by hitting and running short games at San Jose Muni Golf and Spring Valley. Practicing for short game consists of chipping and putting. The girls also practiced using different clubs such as drivers and irons to help develop skills to use during games.

“We are motivated to win and make it further into CSS next year,” stated Truong.