On Senior Night for the Palo Alto High School girls’ volleyball team, the Vikings (29-4) beat the Los Altos Eagles (13-19), 3-1, qualifying the Vikings for the Central Coast Section playoffs as league champions Monday night at home.
Viking head coach Chris Crader said he is proud of the seniors for making a major impact on the team.
“These four kids [seniors] have come so far,” Crader said. “They’ve brought the program to such a great place over the last two years when they’ve all been on varsity. I’m just really proud and happy that they’ve been able to have such outstanding careers here with hopefully a little bit more to come.”
According to Viking senior middle blocker Naama Green, the Vikings needed to win this game.
“The mindset was just leaving it all on the court, fighting for every ball,” Green said. “For the people who aren’t seniors, I think it was fighting for your seniors. And for the seniors, it was giving everything we have because in a bit, this is all gonna go away.”
The first set was relatively close, the Vikings maintained a solid lead of 4-5 points, never letting their foot off the gas. Rallies were the deciding factor in the first set, and the Vikings won the majority of them, thus giving them the win in the first set 25-17.
Viking sophomore and outside hitter Maura Hambly said the Vikings main focus was on defending against Eagle junior outside hitter Aviya Russo.
“I’d say mostly we’re trying to stop number 13 [Russo],” Hambly said. “She’s by far the strongest hitter.”
The second set was hectic from start to finish, with neither team enjoying a lead of more than 3-4 points during the entirety of the set. However, the Eagles were able to bounce back from the previous set, with Russo scoring on consecutive plays winning the set.
Vikings, motivated by the Eagles win and the need to catch up, started the third set strong with a 5-1 lead. Continuing their momentum, the Vikings took the 3rd set, 25-19.
Down 2-1, the Eagles played sluggishly giving the Vikings a 9-1 lead. Unfortunately for the Eagles, the Vikings saw the chance and took it, not looking back, they won the fourth and final set 25-13.
According to senior libero Mackenzie Zhao, she hopes to see the Vikings carry their energy into CCS.
“Going into CCS, I look forward to keeping up the energy, being supportive of teammates, which we are doing really well right now, and also just to not give up and always keep fighting.”
Crader said he is looking forward to playing against better teams in the future.
“I feel like we’re almost certainly going to be selected to be in the open division of CCS, which would be really cool,” Crader said. “We’re definitely going to be playing against some of the best teams around.”
The Vikings are set to play in the CCS playoffs against the Menlo-Atherton Bears (23-7) at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at home.
