By Pete Borello

Courtesy of Centofanti family

Local girls help team win national title

It turns out the only thing that could stop the Club Yahoo! under-16 girls volleyball team was hotel security.

After winning the 16 Open Division of the USA Junior Olympic Championships July 5, Los Altos residents Ashley Bjorklund and Francesca Centofanti and the rest of the team returned to their Louisville, Ky., hotel to celebrate.

“We stayed up until dawn, dancing and having fun,” Bjorklund said. “Then the security guards came to quiet us down.”

On the court, no team could keep Yahoo! down. The San Jose-based club team won eight of its nine rally-score matches en route to the championship. The lone loss came mid-way through the four-day tournament to Cal Juniors of Norwalk, which edged Yahoo! in five games.

But Yahoo! got its revenge in the final, beating Cal Juniors in four games: 25-22, 25-20, 22-25, 25-17.

“We went in knowing we could beat them and then played one of our best matches,” Centofanti said. “We were at the top of our game and they weren’t.”

Bjorklund said her team also benefited from having more experience than the younger Cal Juniors team.

“We used their inexperience to our advantage,” the Los Altos High sophomore said. “We were more relaxed and they were uptight.”

Yahoo! coach Jason Curtis didn’t have a set starting lineup, but Centofanti, Bjorklund and the other nine girls all played substantial roles in the team’s success.

Bjorklund played right-side hitter and defensive specialist. Centofanti, a junior at Woodside Priory School, played outside hitter.

Yahoo! - one of the only teams in the country sponsored by a corporation - also featured players from high schools such as Palo Alto, Menlo, Aptos, Mitty and Presentation. And. one member, Diane Copenhagen, is entering her freshman year at St. Francis High. Players were selected for the team during a tryout last winter.

The coaching staff included Denise Corlett, who will coach the Stanford University women’s volleyball team in the fall, and former Stanford star Lisa Sharpley of Los Altos.

Yahoo! earned a trip to the Junior Olympics last March by winning a qualifying tournament in Colorado.

The 16 Open Division consisted of 32 elite teams from across the country. Yahoo! breezed through the preliminary pool, winning all three of its matches in straight sets.

This put the team in Division I, where Yahoo! split its two matches to move into the Gold Championships with the seven other remaining teams.

Yahoo! then took care of Coast (San Diego) and the Munciana Banana Slugs (Muncie, Ind.) to reach the finals.

The future of the Yahoo! team is uncertain, however, because coach Curtis just moved to North Carolina.

“We did a lot of celebrating (after the final), but there was crying first, because we’re losing our coach,” Bjorklund said.

Bjorklund and Centofanti both said they are open to returning to the team next year and indicated that most of their teammates are, too.

“It was a great experience,” Centofanti said. “I learned so much from this team and had a lot of fun.”