Paly’s varsity volleyball team lost their last home match of the season to tough Los Gatos High School last Thursday, Nov. 3.

Los Gatos’ record before Thursday was 24-4, and Paly had already lost to them once at Los Gatos. The Lady Vikes played hard in the first two games, losing 20-25 in both games, but seemed to give up in the final game, losing 13-25.

"I liked the way we started, but not the way we ended,” varsity coach David Huan said. “I think we were out played. We made a few more mistakes than we could afford, and I think that is what it really comes down to.”

Senior middle blocker Lola Wusu’s father, Set Wusu, agreed with Huan.

“[The match] went okay,” Wusu said. “They needed to be a little bit hungrier to win.”

A pattern emerged during the first two games in which Paly started off by keeping up with Los Gatos’ fast-paced game, but then lost momentum around the time Paly got to 16 points. Once Los Gatos got to 20 points, Huan would call a time-out and the Lady Vikes would make a short come back. Unfortunately, the come back was never enough, and in the third game it never even happened.

Despite the losses, the team managed to put up some good blocks and put down several brilliant kills.

“I think both of our outside hitters played very well,” Huan said. “Lindsey [Spiegleman] had 10 kills and hit .207, while Hillary [Ford] had 8 kills and hit .318. Ariel [Ajagu] had a nice hitting day as well with 7 kills at .294 and Erica [Gage] put up a nice wall against their big hitters at the net with 4 blocks. Ashley [Acuff] also had 4 kills without an error.”

The last home match of the season is traditionally Senior Night, when the team honors their senior teammates. This year’s senior class includes Lola Wusu, Callie Strawn, and Becca Hagemann. The senior’s parents escorted them onto the court while each senior was given a short introduction, a crown, and flowers during before the match began.

Hagemann was unable to play because of an injury she sustained during a match two weeks before during a win against Milpitas. Huan said the game could have gone differently with Hagemann on the court.
“Becca is a very important part of the puzzle,” he said. “We definitely miss her on the court as a player and a leader.”

Senior Lola Wusu sees this match as one of the last times she may ever play volleyball.

“It’s sad because I might not ever play volleyball again, and I love all the girls on my team,” Wusu said.

With their final league match over, Huan looks on to CCS.

“According to our league commissioner we are above Mountain View, Los Altos, and Gunn in CCS standings,” he said.

In a meeting of all the coaches in the Central Cost Section on Friday, Nov. 4, Paly was decidedly ranked sixth in CCS.

The Lady Vikes will play 11th seed, Westmont High School, at Paly on Wednesday, Nov. 9 at 7 p.m.