In a non-league game, the Palo Alto High School varsity girls’ volleyball team (7-1) defeated the University Red Devils (5-4) in straight sets Thursday night at home.
According to Paly head coach Chris Crader, the Vikings focused on getting newer players comfortable playing in varsity matches.
“We have nine girls that haven’t really played varsity before,” Crader said. “So as the season goes on, they’re growing in confidence, and they’ll get better at playing in matches the same way they play in practice.”
The first set started strong for the Vikings. Both teams were dominating on the defensive end, repeatedly returning serves, and displaying the kind of effort that led the set to even at 20 each.
The Vikings then pulled ahead with consecutive blocks made by senior middle blocker Naama Green and sophomore opposite hitter Anja Covert. The Vikings won the first set, 25-21.
Green said lack of communication was an issue in the first set.
“I think in the beginning we were really quiet and made a lot of [communication] errors,” Green said.
The Vikings didn’t allow a first-set win to make them complacent, starting the second set off hot, leading 15-9.
Devils sophomore outside hitter Lilian Bongiorno offered a response in the middle stages of the second set. Her serves connected consecutively, finding space on the floor between the Viking defenders. But, keeping their foot on the gas, the Vikings won the set, 25-18.
Green said the Viking mindset coming into this match was to stick to a strategy and keep the energy up.
“Our mindset was to have a lot of energy, which is what we try to do every game,” Green said. “We also focused on the game plan, such as who we should commit to on blocking. We knew their [the Devils] service game was weak, so we aimed to serve tough.”
The beginning of the third set was dominated by the Devils through consecutive aces. The Devils jumped out to an early 7-2 lead. This was their first significant lead of the match. However, after a missed serve and multiple successful aces by the Vikings, the Devils would enter a drought of points, giving up their lead entirely. Once gaining this new lead, the Vikings never looked back, winning the final set, 25-14, and sweeping the Devils, 3-0.
According to Crader, Covert and junior libero Marley Shumaker both played well in this match despite being new to the team.
“Anja Covert and Marley Shumaker were both on JV last year, so playing in varsity just feels a little different until it doesn’t,” Crader said. “It seemed like they clicked, and they started playing the way we all know that they [can] play.”
The Vikings are set to play the Sacred Heart Gators (5-3) in another non-league game at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at home.
