Football kicked off the beginning of the fall sports season last week, but most of the other fall sports are just about ready to get underway. 
Majority of high school sports takes place in the fall. Water polo, women’s volleyball, tennis and cross country will take place before the end of 2016. 

Water Polo
The Alameda Hornet women’s water polo team continued its stellar play in the pool in 2015. The team went 15-7 in the regular season and capped it off with a 6-3 victory over Bishop O’ Dowd of Oakland on Oct. 31 in the West Alameda County Conference (WACC) championship, its second league title in a row. 

The men’s team also had a great year, going 22-4 in the regular season. They beat Bishop O’ Dowd of Oakland 16-8 in the WACC final.

The Alameda men’s and women’s water polo season kicks off Sept. 9 at the Rocklin Tournament in Rocklin.

Encinal women’s water polo team also played well in 2015. They went 12-11 in the regular season and 3-1 in the WACC. The Jets only in-league defeat came against Alameda. The men’s team went 10-13 on the year. The women’s team will play its first game at home against Dougherty Valley on Sept. 13. The men’s team will face Lick-Wilmerding of San Francisco in its first home contest on Sept. 22.

Women’s Volleyball
All three women’s volleyball teams qualified for the North Coast Section (NCS) postseason in 2015. St. Joseph Notre Dame (SJND) was the fourth-seeded team — out of 16 teams — in the NCS Division V playoffs. The team finished 20-10 in the regular season. They lost in the quarterfinal to University of San Francisco. The Pilots began its 2016 with a match against St. Mary’s of Albany on Tuesday, Aug. 30, at home.

The Hornets posted a 12-10 record on the year. They lost to Clayton Valley Charter of Concord 3-0 in the opening round of the NCS Div. III playoffs on Nov. 11. The Hornets began its 2016 season against Irvington of Fremont also on Tuesday.

The Jets went 11-7 on the year and 10-3 in the WACC Shoreline League. They finished second in the league, one spot ahead on the Hornets. The Jets ended its regular season winning three straight matches. However, they lost to San Marin of Novato in the opening round of the NCS Div. III last year. They begin their season at the Jamboree tournament at the College of Alameda on Sept. 3.

Women’s Tennis
Last year two sisters from SJND won NCS Div. II tennis titles. Azaria Hayes went 16-0 during the 2015 regular season. She swept the Tri-County Athletic League (TCAL) singles tournament. Then went 3-0 in the NCS tournament without dropping a set. Aysha Hayes and Nicole Bermudez beat Caroline Ferguson and Elise Paloglou of University in San Francisco in the double championship match 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (10-8). The Pilots will face California Crosspoint of Alameda Tuesday, Sept. 6.

Cross Country
The St. Joseph Notre Dame (SJND) women’s cross country team won the 2015 Div. V NCS women’s cross country meet Nov. 21. The SJND trio of Kiera Marshall, Emily Perez and Beatrice Levy all finished in the top six in the three-mile meet at Hayward High School. The SJND men’s team finished second in the Div. V men’s cross-country meet with a score of 109. SJND junior Cooper Teare finished first overall (out of 180 participants) with a time of 14:46.4. 

SJND starts the cross-country season at the Ed Sias Invitation on Sept. 10.
Both the Alameda men’s and women’s teams finished eighth in their respective Div. II races last year. The cross-country teams will start the year at the Lowell Invitational on Sept. 10.

The Encinal women’s team finished 14th, while the men’s team finished 17th in their respective Div. III meets. Both Encinal men’s and women’s teams will also take part in the Lowell tournament on Sept. 10.

Women’s golf will also take place in the fall sports season.