The Cabrillo Conquistadoes are back atop the Los Padres League tennis standings.

The Lady Conqs cruised past hometown rival Lompoc, 16-2, during a home match Thursday afternoon.

Their win, coupled with St. Joseph/s loss at Morro Bay, means there is now a four-way tie atop the LPL.

The Pirates engineered their second win of the season over league-leading St. Joseph to throw the LPL lead into that four way tie. Thursday/s score was 10-8. The Pirates knocked off the Knights 11-7 in their first meeting of the season.

&#8220We/re back in first place again,C said Cabrillo coach Dan Troup. &#8220All four of us. Can you believe that.

&#8220I can/t believe they got beat by Morro Bay two times. We/re all 10-3!C

The four are Cabrillo, St. Joseph, Morro Bay and Santa Ynez 7 with just one match left in the LPL season.

Cabrillo led the league two weeks ago at 9-1 but stumbled twice last week against St. Joseph and Morro Bay.

Now, a victory next Tuesday over Nipomo could give the Conquistadores their first LPL title, albeit shared, since 1993.

&#8220We/ve got the toughest of the last matches,C Troup calculated. &#8220Nipomo is the toughest of the rest. They had a 9-9 match against St. Joseph in the first round, so we could get bit. They/re no slouch by any means. We have to finish out the season. I/ve been making that point all season. We need to finish.C Cabrillo defeated the Titans 13-5 in their first meeting.

If the Conqs can repeat against Nipomo and the title is deadlocked, Cabrillo/s CIF playoff seeding appears to hang on the luck of the draw7 namely a number drawn by Troup before the season began.

Unfortunately Troup/s luck was not as good as his team.

&#8220Larry ends up No. 1,C said Troup, referring to Santa Ynez coach Larry Popkin. &#8220Morro Bay is No. 2. After that it/s fuzzy.

&#8220As far as I know four teams are going to CIF. All four of us have been ranked in the top six in the division so they ought to take four.C

Thursday the Conqs got sweeps from Ellen Monkemeier and from their two top doubles teams. Monkemeier won 6-2, 6-1, 6-0, Madalyn Doudna/Elysha McLain 6-1, 6-3, 6-0, and Lauren Vance/Heidi Havlicek 6-0, 6-2, 6-3.

Lisa Schutz won 6-4 and 6-0 before giving way to Leslie Morgan who prevailed 6-1.

Lindsey Johnson was moved by Troup from doubles for the day and she took two of three sets 6-1 and 6-4.

Operating at No. 3 doubles were Ali Herred/Amy Olivas who also won two 6-4, 6-1.

&#8220I want to give Leslie Morgan some props,C said Troup. &#8220She came in and won her set 6-1. The team did what they had to today.C

Lompoc/s two victories came from Jani Carmona who rallied from a 5-2 deficit to win 7-5 and the Braves/ No. 2 doubles team Amanda Chastain/Crystal Hernandez who won 6-2.

Besides the set she won, Carmona battled Schutz before falling 6-4. Other tightly contested 6-4 sets came from Braves Maria Morales who lost to Johnson, and Janee Murray/Tieana Drouillard who fell to Herred/Olivas.

The Braves are now 2-11 with Morro Bay coming to visit in the league finale Tuesday.

LPL water polo

Cabrillo 20, Nipomo 6

At Cabrillo, the league-leading Conquistadores, now 7-0, set the stage for their showdown with second place Santa Ynez.

The Conqs led 8-1 after one quarter, 10-2 at halftime.

&#8220We had the advantage of shooting deep in the first period,C said Q coach Joel Jory. &#8220The kids were flawless.C

Byron Mikowicz led Cabrillo scoring with six goals, Joey Gullikson added five while Casey Owen, Daniel McNutt and Nick Darling added two each. Alex Reyna, Chris Herrera and Wes Hain added one.

Hain led playmaking with six assists with Mikowicz dishing up five.

On defense, Hain led in steals with four and in ejections drawn with two. Goalies Sam Ouimet and Kris Rosson blocked four and seven respectively.

Jory singled out the play of Hain. &#8220A goal, six assists, and four steals, for a sophomore that/s pretty darn good. A lot of the older guys don/t put together a statline like that. That/s good to see.C

The Conquistadores, 15-10 overall, visit Santa Ynez Thursday in their league finale. The Conqs won 9-8 in their own pool when the two first met so the worst they can do is a co-championship with the Pirates.

&#8220I don/t like >co/ on the (championship) patches,C said Jory. &#8220Especially when you win the first one.C

LPL volleyball

Santa Ynez 3, Cabrillo

At Santa Ynez, the Pirates dealt the Conquistadores their eighth loss in league play 25-15, 25-15, 25-17.

The Conqs fall to 4-8 with two matches to play.

&#8220We played well,C said coach Sue Slavens. &#8220Santa Ynez is just stronger.C

Jessica Kennedy led Cabrillo with four kills, three serving aces and 26 digs. Brisha Ogan added 15 digs and Jessica Shekell 14.

The Conquistadores host Lompoc on Tuesday.

Santa Maria 3, Lompoc 0

At Santa Maria, the Saints won in three straight to leave Lompoc with just two more chances to pick up its first victory.

Santa Maria won 25-23, 25-15, 26-24.

&#8220We just couldn/t generate the offense,C said Lompoc coach Don Savella.

&#8220The first game we couldn/t minimize our unforced errors and in the second our system broke down. In the third we just fell short.C

Katelyn Lynch led the Braves with seven kills, Laura Schelvis led in assists with 10 and Sabrina Chill came up with nine digs.

Lompoc, now 0-12, visits Cabrillo on Tuesday.

LPL freshman football

Lompoc 42, St. Joseph 0

At Huyck Stadium, the Braves upped their record to 8-0 and dealt St. Joseph its first defeat.

Fullback Favi Vargas accounted for four touchdowns.

Lompoc/s first TD came on a Vargas one-yard plunge after a 67-yard drive alternating runs by Bobby Collins and Vargas.

In the second quarter the Braves exploded for three TD/s, one a Collins 44-yard run, then Vargas punched it in from two yards out and then with 49 seconds left quarterback Gilbert Cornejo connected with Vargas for a 15-yard pass play for a touchdown.

In the third quarter, Vargas reeled off a 91-yard run to make the score 35-0. The final score came from Anthony Sykeo who carried 68 yards on a sweep. Daniel Hernandez booted six PAT/s.

Coach Rick Aguilar commented of the play of defensive end Jake Mitchell and inside linebacker Ramon Campos. &#8220Our defense did an excellent job,C Aguilar said.

The Braves travel to Santa Maria next Thursday.

Cabrillo 23, Nipomo 6

At Nipomo, the Conquistadores also remained undefeated at 8-0.

They began with an 85-yard drive that culminated in Brandon Whittaker scoring from seven yards out. Nipomo retaliated but after that it was all Cabrillo.

In the second quarter, Aaron Naputi scored on a 6-yard effort and Matt Stoerrle booted a 30-yard field goal. The kicker was also author of two PAT conversions during the afternoon.

In the third quarter, Jeff Gonzalez concluded Cabrillo scoring on a run of eight yards.

Coach Bob Radford credited the play of rookie defensive ends Thomas Lee and Mike Wolf. &#8220It was their first day at those positions and they stepped up,C said Radford who also liked the play of the pair in the line on offense. A key defensive play was an interception snagged by Aaron Zambrano.

&#8220It wasn/t pretty but we won,C Radford concluded.

The Conquistadores host St. Joseph next Thursday.

Sports writer John McReynolds can be reached at 737-1055, or jmcreynolds@lompocrecord.com