The Palo Alto High School girls volleyball team (21-8, 7-3) looks to secure a spot in the Central Coast Section playoffs with a win against the Henry M. Gunn High School Titans (13-14, 4-6) tonight at Gunn’s Bow Gym.

The Vikings are currently in 3rd place in the De Anza League, and winning tonight will keep them in that spot. The top three teams in the league will advance to compete for the CCS championship.

Senior setter Sarah Limb recognized the importance of tonight’s match.

“This game is really important to us because if we win then we will have a higher seed in CCS,” Limb said, “and by having a higher seed it will increase our chances of going far in CCS.”

Junior outside hitter Jade Schoenberger addressed the value of tonight’s game in CCS seeding, as the top four seeds get a home game in the first round.

“If we win this game we get a home game in quarterfinals, I believe, of CCS, which is always really fun because then our fans can come out and cheer us on,” Schoenberger said.

At this point in the season, the Vikings are no longer in contention to win the league title, which they have won for seven consecutive years.

Schoenberger is not deterred by the Viking’s lack of a league title.

“We knew that going into this season this league was going to be hard,” Schoenberger said. “I think at this point it’s just about having fun and not really focusing so much on the loss of league but just continuing to push for everything.”

Gunn is currently in 5th place in the De Anza League standings. Tonight is their senior night, but Gunn lost the previous game against Paly this season.

Schoenberger is excited to play in a rivalry game tonight.

“This is one of my favorite games of the season,” Schoenberger said. “I especially like when we play at Gunn as well because I like proving ourselves to others, showing what we got.”
The Vikings will compete against the Gunn Titans at 6:45 p.m. tonight at Gunn High School.