Starting the pre-season off with a bang, the junior varsity volleyball team defeated Santa Cruz High School 2-0 (25-19, 25-12).

The Vikings won big with important contributions from freshmen middle hitter Erica Gage, who tallied eight kills for the match, combined with outside hitter Lindsey Spiegelman’s three.

Paly’s serving was strong throughout the entire game with four aces from Spiegelman, two from sophomore setter Kristine Miller, and two from sophomore Hannah Schwartz.

Co-captain sophomore Danya Taymor totaled 12 assists added to Miller’s eight.

The Vikings’ second match of the pre-season was another win against Leigh High School winning in two games (25-23, 25-17).
"Winning is a team effort and in both matches we had so many players who did well," head coach Theresa Carey said.

Kill leaders were again Gage with five and Spiegelman supplying four. Taymor finished with ten assists.

Spiegelman totaled three aces for the night with a perfect nine for nine record, along with two aces from sophomore Elizabeth Ellsworth. Taymor went 17 for 17 serving against Leigh with two aces.

The overall team serving success was 97% for the match.
When asked what to work on for upcoming matches, Carey said, "We’ll work on converting more of our serve receive opportunities to side-outs. In both matches, we had one rotation in each game that gave us trouble and allowed our opponents to run off a series of serves."

The Vikings beat Branham High School of San Jose winning in 2-0 (25-21, 25-23). Sophomore outside hitter Hannah Schwartz had six kills and Gage and Spiegelman both added five each. Miller had 10 assists and Taymor tallied nine for the night. Junior co-captain and defensive specialist Amanda Ogus had six digs.
In the team’s most recent pre-season match against Notre Dame Belmont, Paly won in two games (25-23, 25-21). Taymor, Ellsworth and Spiegelman all had five digs each throughout the match. Sophomore middle hitter Lola Wusu contributed three blocks for the night.

According to Carey, players to keep eyes on this season are returning setter Taymor, outside hitter Spiegelman, middle hitter Gage and setter Miller.

"Danya has a lot of confidence on the court and has a knack for keeping the team fired up, and Lindsey reminds me of Paly grad Lizzie Carlson with her excellent passing skills and ability to put the ball away with authority when she gets a good set," Carey said.

Team goals this season, according to Carey, are to finish in the top three in league and to win one of the three tournaments that the team is scheduled to play.

"Several players on this year’s JV squad need to be ready to take on key roles next year when they move up to varsity, and I want to make sure they’re prepared to play at that level," Carey said.

Last season’s finishing record was 15-17 (including tournament play), an improvement from 12-20 the year before. The team placed fourth in the Mt. View JV Tournament, and third in the Leland JV Invitational. According to Carey the highlight of the 2002 season was defeating Los Gatos.

"Our goal every match is to play so well that we strike fear into the collective hearts of our opponent’s varsity team," Carey said. "Many times, when a JV team dominates its opponent, such as in our season-opening match against Santa Cruz, which we won convincingly, the opposing varsity team starts out their match a little scared and tentative. I want Paly’s opponents to watch our JV matches and think, ‘Wow, if the JV team plays this well, what’s the varsity like?’"

The junior varsity volleyball team finished in second place on Saturday at the Mountain View Junior Varsity Tournament.
In morning pool play, Paly triumphed over Milpitas and Notre Dame-Belmont but lost a close match to Sacred Heart. The team’s overall record qualified them for the Gold playoff division, where they defeated Castilleja in a three-game semi-final match (19-25, 25-10, 15-10).

The vikes ended up falling against Los Altos to lose in the championship match. Paly lost a close first game (20-25), but would not give up and came back to win the second game unfalteringly, 25-19. The third and determining game of the match went to Los Altos, 15-7.

"We lost to Los Altos in an incredibly badly refereed match … I wish the refs had just let us play rather than messing up so many calls. But oh well, now we have revenge in our hearts for league play." Carey said.

The team played a total of five matches with an overall record of 3-2 beating Milpitas High School, Notre Dame-Belmont, and number one seeded Castilleja, while losing to Sacred Heart and Los Altos.

Sophomores Gage, Spiegelman and Katie Webb each contributed 15 kills while Wusu scored 13, Taymor tallied 46 assists, and Wusu totaled 12 blocks. Sophomore defensive specialist Alina Kagan’s tough serving resulted in 8 aces; Taymor had 7 and Spiegelman and Schwartz had 6 each. The team finished with an 83% serving success rate.