The Palo Alto High School girls’ water polo team (15-15, 6-6) ended its season in a 5-2 loss to Gunn High School in the Central Coast Section quarterfinals on Saturday.

Despite the loss, junior Katie Francis thought the season was a step in the right direction.

“We were able to improve since last season and worked very hard to make it as far as we did in CCS,” Francis said. “Last year, we were unfortunately just out of CCS, and this year we made it to the third round”.

According to Francis, the team had a strong performance on Saturday

“We played a good game on Saturday,” Francis said. “We had a strong defense, and we were getting things moving on offense. Some of our shots just did not get into the goal.”

Even though the team will be losing key seniors including Tess van Hulsen and Olivia Scola, junior Alina Drebin says she is optimistic for next season.

“Next season, we are going to have a lot of seniors,” Drebin said. “So I’m excited because we are going to have a very experienced team, and I think our bench is going to be really deep next year.”

Drebin also believes there is room for improvement.

“I think we have a lot of room to improve our offensive plays and improving our defensive awareness,”  Drebin said.