Paly’s varsity volleyball team won its first league game at home against the Mountain View Spartans on Thursday at Paly. Though both teams had injured players, the Vikings easily won by a score of 3-0 against an opponent that was thought to be difficult to beat.

“We kept playing tough and did not make many mistakes,” senior captain Ally Whitson said. “We went out there and had fun.”

Prior to Thursday’s game, the team concentrated on perfecting its technique in receiving serves. These practices ultimately paid off for the Vikings.

“Our serve and service return was very good,” head coach Dave Winn said, “and our diggers were positioned well so that when Mountain View attacked, we had the best chance to dig balls up.”

The main stars during the match were sophomores Trina Ohms and Megan Coleman, junior Marissa Florant, and seniors Whitson, Daniella Florant and Allie Coleman. During the match, Marissa Florant made 18 digs and two aces, Whitson had 17 kills and 10 digs, and sophomore Megan Coleman made nine digs and two aces.

Mountain View has had a reputation for being a difficult team to beat in the De Anza league, but this did not seem to affect the Lady Vikings’ composure.

“In past games we have had a tendency to get intimated by big and powerful hitters,” Daniella Florant said, “and that leads to us playing intimidated and demoralized by each point lost. But tonight, we did a really good job of not allowing their [Mountain View’s] best player [Abigail Munoz] get very many points or to take away our momentum.”

The girls started the first game strong with a 6-0 lead. The team was able to maintain this lead, with kills from seniors Whitson, Daniella Florant and Marissa Florant, and eventually won the set 25-12.

“She [Whitson] is a great hitter and very hard to block,” junior Spartan Melissa McTighe said. “The same goes for the Florant sisters. They are both great volleyball players and we underestimated their blocks and hits. ”

Freshman Melanie Wade successfully executed a kill at the start of the second game. The Vikings gained the lead after struggling for it with the Spartans. Later in the set, middle blocker Wade was hit in the head by the ball and was forced to sit out.

“I was in shock that my head was even above the net,” Wade said. “After the hit I was a little scared of getting hit again.”

The team lost a little bit of their momentum after Wade sat out, but still captured the set. The Paly girls won, 25-20, with kills from Ohms and Marissa Florant.

“Everyone who was on the court played really well and had a great game that night,” Allison Coleman said. “Also, even the people who weren’t on the court were doing a great job cheering and helping to keep our energy up.”

Coleman made a total of 35 assists in the match.

In the third set, Wade returned and helped Paly win 25-17 by executing four kills in the final set, ending up with a total of six kills against Mountain View.

“I just kept thinking about how much my team wanted to win the game,” Wade said. “I didn’t want to stop and show the other team I was hurt because it would give them more hope to beat us.”

The team will play Gunn at 6:45 p.m. on Sept. 30 at Gunn High School.