Congratulations to Saratoga, who went 13-0 to win the 2015 NAQT Northern California State Championship! Haarlem A finished second with an 11-2 record (both losses to Saratoga). Davis A claimed third by defeating Escobar A 325-320 in the last round of the superplayoffs.

Complete team and individual stats are available here.

My thanks to all of the staff who made this tournament possible: Ankit Aggarwal, Neeloy Azad, Steve Flowers, John Gleb, Ashley Gonik, Eric Grewal, Samira Irfan, Isabelle Jia, Nicholas Karas, Aseem Keyal, Shatayu Kulkarni, Arbong Lei, Holly Luo, Ninad Munshi, Anagha Panchagnula, Niki Peters, Sam Peterson, Jim Puls, Rithik Rajani, Susan Shen, Shweta Thakur, Lukas Vlahos, Andrew Wang, Ivy Wang, and Naomi Williams.

Junior varsity statistics from California Cup #4 can be found here.

This write up is the second of two and contains only the top six junior varsity teams.

1^st place – Valley Christian A

Bouncing back from their 4^th-place finish at Cal Cup #3 and improving upon their 2^nd-place spot at Bellarmine Novice, Valley Christian A wins their first tournament of the season, led for the first time not by sophomore Omeed Askary (this time with just 43.33 PPG) by instead by sophomore Andrew Rao (9^th scorer at 53.89 PPG), whose statline of 20/21/5 indicates a better aptitude for this type of set as compared with NAQT sets. Valley Christian A’s PPB was only the 2^nd-highest of the tournament, averaging 15.73, topping 18 twice, but dipping as low as 12.3. While they usually managed around 2 negs a round, they got 5 in their game against “Guilder” B (250-165) and 6 against Bellarmine B (their closest game of the day that ended 260-205). It will be interesting to see at Northern California State if they are able to hold their own among some of the regularly varsity teams.

2^nd place – Albany

Albany takes their second-highest place in this year’s Cal Cup series after losing just one game all day to Valley Christian A (205-275, Albany’s closest of the day) under lead scorers sophomore Andrew Liu (46.67 PPG) and senior Sean Lin (38.33 PPG). Albany had the field’s highest PPB, a commendable 16.42, which managed to hit or top 20 in three games. As likely future lead scorer, Andrew will need to work on his negs (nearly topping the field with 14), but those at Cal Cup #4 in addition to Sean’s 11 led to the team averaging over 3 a game, which is definitely not sustainable at their current get-levels. Given the transition back to an NAQT set and assuming Albany plays at full strength again, they likely stand a chance at performing reasonable well at NorCal State.

3^rd place – Davis B

Davis B takes 3^rd place, same as Cal Cup #1 and a step down from the last Cal Cup. Overall 10^th scorer freshman Ethan Skinner (53.33 PPG) leads to team to an 8-1 finish, dropping just one game to Albany by a rather large margin (150-290), managing to answer just six tossups that round. The rest of the team is reasonably balanced (between 15.56 and 23.33 PPG each) but will definitely need to take advantage of the next year in order to fill the shoes of the current A team, as is also illustrated by a PPB of 14.95. To their credit, however, Davis B did manage to secure the field’s highest single-game PPB, hitting a fantastic 24.44 in their last game of the day, a 305-115 win over a Mira Loma/Rio Americano hybrid team. As with many other teams in their field, Davis B will need to address their negs (averaging around 3 a game), but look poised to do well in junior varsity over the next season.

4^th – Evergreen Valley A

In their first write-up mention this season, Evergreen Valley A goes 7-2 to finish in their highest place of the season under lead scorer senior Charlie Tian (4^th overall at 72.78 PPG), who – at 10.5 – had one of the best gets-per-neg ratios of the field. His team, however, contributes quite a few negs in addition to his approximately .5 a game, resulting in an average of around three per game. Luckily, their closest game of the day, a 235-220 win over “Haarlem” C, is likely the only one that was significantly impacted by their negs, of which there were five. Primarily, junior Ashwinee Panda’s concentration on his negs will help the team in the future, and he could possibly take over as Evergreen Valley’s new lead scorer. With Charlie, Evergreen Valley’s PPB was a nice 14.22, but it remains to be seen how the team will fare upon his graduation.

5^th place – Bellarmine B

Freshmen Atul Saha (7^th scorer at 62.78 PPG) and Hieu Nguyen (41.67 PPG) play as a two-man team, admirably dropping just three incredibly games over the course of the day to Berkeley (135-175), Valley Christian A (205-206), and Evergreen Valley A (130-180). Their closest game of the day was a 200-170 win over Northgate, in which they had an absurd seven negs. Aside from that game, they averaged about two a game, so negging probably isn’t a huge issue for this team and will matter less as they gain experience. That inexperience is evident in their 12.7 PPB, although they did manage to hit near 15.5 in two different games, and definitely show potential for the rest of their careers.

5^th place – “Haarlem” B

“Haarlem” B also drops just three games over the course of the day, finishing tied for 5^th place under lead scorer junior Larry Liang (32.5 PPG) with the rest of the team averaging in the mid-teens. Their possession of a full team during the tournament had a clear impact on PPB over Bellarmine B, allowing them to have the field’s fifth-highest of 13.38. Unlike Bellarmine B, however, “Haarlem” B did lose all of their games by relatively large margins, in increasing order to Albany (125-240), Valley Christian A (135-315), and Davis B (65-390). That game against Davis B was definitely not helped by the team’s six negs, which were again a problem in their five-point win over Lowell A, which saw four negs over its course. That, coupled with a few more close games over the day, indicate that “Haarlem” B definitely has a while to go before they will be on par with and able to fully replace the current A team.

From all of us at the NCQBA, a huge thank you to everyone who has been instrumental in the success of this year’s California Cup series. Congratulations once more to Bellarmine A and California Crosspoint, this year’s varsity and junior varsity champions!

Varsity statistics from California Cup #4 can be found here.

This write up is the first of two and contains only the top five teams in the Varsity division.

1^st place – Bellarmine A

Bellarmine A goes undefeated for the first time since the first Cal Cup, securing their place as series champions for the second year in a row. As overall third scorer with 73.89 PPG, senior Jarek Jankowski once again leads his team, with main support from fellow seniors Alejandro Buendia (40 PPG) and Jonchee Kao (33.89 PPG). Every member from Bellarmine A managed to have more powers than gets, and individual negs were below .5 a round with the exception of Jarek, who averaged just over one a game. As a team they averaged about 2 negs a game, but that was easily offset by their powers, which always nearly reached or did reach the double digits. Their first game saw them go an impressive 14/1/3 against California Crosspoint A (545-150) and a later game against “Escobar” A saw a stat line of 11/6/1 (640-45). PPB remained at their usual level (23.87), usually hovering around 24 in each game, even hitting 26.5 against “Haarlem” A and never dipping below 22.5. Similarly, total points scored per round never dipped below 405, which was their score in games against both Saratoga A (405-300) and “Haarlem” A (closest game of the day at 405-315, in which they only managed to get ten tossups to “Haarlem”’s nine, but were saved by the aforementioned bonus conversion). Given that the Northern California State Championship on April 11 will be held on an NAQT set, as opposed to Cal Cup #4’s BHSAT, by most predictions the tournament could reasonably go to either Bellarmine or Saratoga, and promises to be an exciting one.

2^nd place – Saratoga A

Bruce Lou is unable to tie Bellarmine in Cal Cup wins, dropping games to Bellarmine A and Palo Alto A (an extremely close loss with a final score of 320-335) while securing top individual scorer with 146.67 PPG. Impressive enough on its own, but even more so while soloing, Bruce managed just five negs over the course of nine games, but saw a clear drop in his powers (although he still had the most of the tournament, with 47 to Eric Chen’s 36). In his best round, a shut-out victory over a shorthanded “Guilder” A, he managed to go 4/14/1, finishing 625 to their 15. Per usual, Bruce’s gets-to-neg ratio dwarfed the rest of the field at 22.2, with the exception of 5^th scorer junior Jason Chen of Amador Valley, who finished with 19. As with his powers, his PPB was also affected by the difficulty of the set, although an average of 22.88 with a peak of 25 is the opposite of a lackluster performance. His powers-to-neg ratio came close to topping the field as an individual (and did as a team) at 9.4, were it not for “Haarlem” junior Gautham Parvar’s 13, although the difference between going 47/5 and 13/1 is significant. Likely due to the difficulty of the set and Bruce’s lack of a team, the difference between Bellarmine and Bruce’s stat lines was far more pronounced than usual (77/42/19 to 47/64/5), and the two will likely be far closer in the upcoming state championship.

3^rd place – “Haarlem” A

Finishing at third place for the first time since Cal Cup #1, “Haarlem” A finishes 7-2, dropping games only to the teams that placed above them (315-405 in Bellarmine A’s closest game and 215-470 against Saratoga A). Senior Eric Chen places as second overall scorer at 77.78 PPG, more than doubling “Haarlem” A’s second-scorers points. They had the second-best PPB of the field at 23.08, hitting 25.88 in their first game of the day, a 640-30 victory over “Escobar” A in which they went 7/10/1. The increasingly impressive depth and breadth of “Haarlem”’s knowledge is further illustrated by their ability to power more tossups than they tenned except in three rounds, two of which had the same number of powers and tens, and one of which was the aforementioned “Escobar” game, which even legendary powerhouse Bruce did not manage at this tournament. “Haarlem” may have finally addressed their negging problem, managing this time to get the tournament’s second-lowest number (14 to Saratoga A’s 5). As the ways things have gone thus far this season, expect third and fourth place at NorCal State to be contested closely between “Haarlem” A and Davis A.

4^th place – Davis A

Displaced from third in the last Cal Cup, Davis A loses just one too many a game to place higher, finishing in 4^th place with three losses in a row to Saratoga A (270-355), “Haarlem” A (285-400), and Bellarmine A (210-420). The first and last of those were very much so the result of too large a number of negs (5 against Saratoga and 6 against Bellarmine), as they usually managed to keep them more under control (but did nearly lead the field with 22, short of “Guilder” A’s 26). Senior Jayanth Sundaresan and sophomore Eliot Williams led the team tied for 10^th individual at 38.33 PPG, with junior Anthony DiCarlo closely following at 31.11 PPG and junior Teddy Knox at 26.11. Their PPB was commendable at 22.79, but they also managed to get the tournament’s highest single-game PPB, scoring an incredible 28 PPB in their 6/4/3 396-235 game against Amador Valley A. Davis A also managed to power more tossups in each game than they actually got for ten, and saw their best games come against Palo Alto A (going 9/3/1 for a 470-260 win) and “Cougars” (8/7/2 for a 495-110 win). With the parity between Davis A and “Haarlem” A, and Davis’s strength on NAQT distributions, they may likely take third place or at least give “Haarlem” a difficult fight for it.

5^th place – Palo Alto A

Similarly, Palo Alto A finishes 6-3, dropping games to Davis A (260-470), “Haarlem” A (210-470), and Bellarmine A (240-450), but upsetting Saratoga A 335-320, in both teams’ closest games of the day. Senior Max Krawczyk and junior Trevor Filseth tie for 6^th overall scorer with 41.67 PPG with their remaining teammates both hovering around 20 PPG. With 18 overall negs, they should probably be a bit more careful with their aggression, but usually kept a handle on it with around two per game, with the exception of a lucky game against California Crosspoint A, in which they negged five times but managed to still win 325-255. Their best games came against “Cougars” (6/9/1, 485-75) and “Guilder” A (4/11/3, 465-80), and their best PPB in their loss to Bellarmine A (24.29), although they tended to hover closer to their 20.72 average. Max’s impending graduation should help them curb their negs a bit (his 13 to Trevor’s 3), but for the time being expect a similar finish at NorCal State.