In the first home game of the season, the Palo Alto High School girls’ volleyball crushed Castilleja School, 3-0, Thursday in the big gym.
Head coach Dave Winn said he was satisfied with the girls’ performance and hopes that they continue to improve throughout the season.
“We did well tonight,” Winn said. “We’ve been working on our serves during practice and it paid off.”
In the first game, the Vikings gained the lead and led throughout the remainder of the game, winning 25-13.
The girls felt that their team’s weakness, which was serving, became their strength to win every game.
“We focused on our weakness which was serving and that became our strongest point throughout the match,” junior Libero Megan Coleman said.
In the second match, again the Vikings gained the lead. Later into the game, Castilleja had a comeback, trying to regain lost points and aim for a win. As the game came to a close, due to blocks and counter attacks, the Vikings won 25-9.
For the Vikings, building team chemistry at the beginning of the season helped the teamwork together throughout the games.
“We have a strong team chemistry which allowed us to play well against Castilleja,” sophomore outside hitter Caroline Martin said.
In the final match, Castilleja attempted to pull a win against the Vikings. The Vikings held strong, countering Castilleja’s blows with blocks and kills of their own, which resulted in long rallies. Even though this was their first time playing Castilleja, the Vikings brought their game up to a whole new level and won 25-12.
“We communicated really well and played cohesively,” junior outside hitter Trina Ohms said. “We kept the energy up throughout the whole game and the intensity was what helped us win the game.”
The Vikings will participate in the Santa Cruz Harbor tournament this Saturday. The next home game will be at 6:45 p.m. Tuesday at Paly’s Big Gym against Gunn.