The Vikings suffered a 9-36 loss to the Gunn Titans on April 25 contributing another defeat to their 0-10 record for the season thus far.

Bad luck seems to haunt Paly this season, as yet another player, besides No. 1 mixed doubles senior Mariya Pitel, has gotten injured. Varsity boys’ No. 1 doubles player, junior Thomas Hwang, sprained his ankle a week ago while playing basketball with his friends.

To add more unfortunate news, players, such as senior Alex Kreitz, were unable to play in the match due to the lack of attendance in practice the day before. Without many players, head coach Kara Prentice has had no choice but to change the regular varsity lineups.

“With two people missing from your line up in two different areas, there is no easy fix,” Prentice said. “I don’t have extra varsity players lying around to fill in where necessary, so there’s always an adjustment that takes place.”

Sophomore Isaac Yao and freshman Allen Chen, who normally play JV singles, played together for the first time in varsity doubles. Neither had had any experience in doubles in a match.

In mixed doubles, junior Brandon Chen, who had been playing singles the whole year, switched with senior Kevin Zhou’s mixed doubles position. Although Chen had only been playing singles, he did not go into the mixed game clueless. Chen and senior partner Tiffany Wohlers played together last year for half the season as JV mixed doubles No. 1. In the game against Gunn’s mixed doubles No. 1, Emily Ho and Albert Gao, they dominated in the first game, 15-8. However, they faltered and ended the next game, 6-15, resulting in a third game, which they lost 5-15. The same pattern applied to their next game against Gunn’s mixed doubles No. 2, Katherine He and Allen Tsai. After winning a close first game with the score of 17-15, they lost the next two with scores of 8-15, 9-15.

“I didn’t warm up enough,” Chen said. “All my smashes kept going out.”

Another switch was junior Monica Lee, who played with freshmen Connie Yang in girl doubles No. 2. They tied Gunn’s doubles 2 players, 13-13, before losing 13-15. In the second game, Lee and Yang were tied once again 15-15. Gunn managed to score a point but Lee and Yang fought back, regained serving possession, and scored another point. With only one point left and Paly in possession, both teams fought hard. After a long rally, Gunn smashed and Yang managed to deflect it, but the shuttlecock hit the net, giving Gunn the serve. Although Paly still had a chance to get it back, they lost 16-17.

Doubles may not have been able to win many games, but singles fared better. Senior Anthony Hu, singles No. 1 player, won both games against Gunn’s singles No. 2 player, Erik Petigura, 15-11, 15-7. Zhou, who played singles No. 2 today, also won a game against Gunn’s singles 2 player but lost a close game afterwards ending in a score of 14-17. Entering the third game, Zhou tied 12-12 before Gunn delivered the final three points, ending the game, 13-15.

“I did better this time,” Hu said. “Much better.”

For girls’ singles, freshmen Young Hsu, singles 1 player, lost 8-15 against Gunn’s singles No. 1, Jingjing Li, in the first game. However, Hsu did much better in the second game, tying the game 13-13 before Gunn made the final two points, ending the game, 13-15. The game against Gunn’s singles No. 2, Vivien Tsao, however, was an entirely different story. Hsu dominated in both games with scores of 15-7, 15-5.

With the loss against Gunn, Paly dropping down to the lower league, Division II, is almost concrete. They may have improved since the beginning of the season, but it is apparent that it is still not enough. Only one game is left in the season, which is against Lynbrook next Tuesday at Lynbrook. Looking at the score of the last time Paly played them, 11-35, the chance to win is close to none.

“We’re definitely going down,” Wang said. “It’s been decided after losing against Gunn.”

Even if this season is a total loss for Paly, there are still Santa Clara Valley Athletic League (SCVAL) playoffs on May 11-13 at Gunn, and Central Coast Section (CCS) playoffs on May 16-18 to look forward to. Since SCVALs and CCS are all on individual basis, there is still a chance for Vikings to earn a name and place among other schools this year.

“As far as next year, there will be no changes,” Prentice said. “Nothing about the way the season was run resulted in our losing record.”