Palo Alto High School’s girls’ volleyball team (15-8, 1-5) will play Los Altos High School (21-3, 6-0) in its third annual Dig Pink match 6:45 p.m. tomorrow at Los Altos.
According to the press release, Dig Pink aims to promote breast cancer awareness as well as raise money to fund research to find a cure. This event donates money to the Side-Out Foundation, a non-profit organization that advocates breast cancer awareness through volleyball.
Paly has collaborated with Los Altos for the last two years, and has raised over $4,600 total through the previous annual events, according to the press release.
Senior outside hitter Hayley Poore said that there are multiple ways that Dig Pink raises money.
“We have a bake sale during the game and sell baked goods, water, and t-shirts,” Poore said. “All the money we raise from that goes to the Side-Out foundation. We also collect cash and check donations at the match, or people can donate directly to the Side-Out foundation online.”
This year, the coordinators decided to fund-raise a little differently.
“We used to count digs and people could make a pledge to donate per dig, but most people preferred to just pick a specific amount of money to donate,” Poore said. “This year, we are not going to be tying donations to the number of digs.”
While this match is scored like a normal game, it’s much more exciting, according to Poore.
“It is a regular league match, but the gym is decorated in pink, students perform the National Anthem, in between sets the Los Altos dance team performs, and the game will be filmed by Cal-Hi Sports,” Poore said.
According to sophomore setter Julie Chandler, the teams have fun with this event by dressing up.
“We wear the Dig Pink shirts and pink ribbons, and so does the other team,” Chandler said.
In addition to the important charity event, the game will be exciting as Los Altos is one of the strongest teams in the league, according to Poore. Although their last meeting resulted in a Paly loss, Chandler hopes to fight hard this game.
“Last time against Los Altos we had a slow start, which made it harder for us to win,” Chandler said. “If we can have a strong start and play as a team, we can compete with them and do well.”
According to Chandler, Los Altos senior Carmen Annevelink will be a huge threat. She committed to UC Berkeley in November of her junior year to play volleyball, according to Annevelink.
“A key player to look out for on the other team is Carmen, their big outside hitter,” Chandler said. “Getting a good block up on her will be really important.”
Despite the strong opposing team, Poore expresses her excitement for the Dig Pink match.
“It’s a great way to help a good cause,” Poore said. “Lots of people show up and it’s fun to see everyone in pink.”
Click here to donate to Paly’s campaign.