The Palo Alto High School Boys’ water polo team (9-6-0) was blown out of the water by Henry M. Gunn High School, 7-14, in its first league match of the season.

Paly was able to keep the game close with Gunn in the second quarter, only allowing Gunn a 4-6 lead. With 40 seconds left in the second quarter, senior utility Sam Kelley scored a goal, picking up Paly’s spirits.

It started going downhill for the Vikings in the third quarter as Gunn started scoring goals at a rate that Paly could not keep up with. While Paly was able to get two goals, Gunn picked it up and scored five, leaving the game at 6-11.

While starting off as a close game in the first quarter, both teams played hard, firing at the goals, but as the game went on, Gunn swept the victory away from the Vikings.

Even though Paly did not win the match, the team was not too down on itself.

“I felt that I played decently,” sophomore utility Winston Rosati said, “but I could have done better on defense.”

Many players put a lot of pressure on themselves since they were playing their rivals, according to coach Brandon Johnson.

“In hindsight it’s not really that big of a game. It’s not going to end our season.” Johnson said. “We will move on we’ll get better from it.”

It is only Paly’s first league game so the boys have time to improve in the areas they lacked in this match.

“We’ll get better from it and we’ll see [Gunn] again in a couple of weeks,” Johnson said.

The Vikings next game will be at 6:45 p.m. Thursday at Lynbrook High School, followed with a tournament on Friday and Saturday at their home pool.