The Palo Alto High School varsity volleyball team proved itself in a Cinderella story State Championship match after coming back from a 13-7 deficit in the fifth game of the match. Paly (36-3,12-0) defeated Marymount High School (34-5,8-0) on Saturday night at Concordia University in Irvine to win another state championship title to conclude its 2011 season.

Head coach Dave Winn was still letting the State title sink in directly after the game.

“I haven’t had a chance to capsulate it but I said one word to them right before we went into the media room and I just said ‘Believe’,” Winn said. “It’s so corny but that was the theme of the season. They believe in each other and at the end of the day all the things we are talking about strategy wise don’t mean squat unless you believe.”

After putting away the first game with ease, the Lady Vikes stayed neck to neck with Marymount for the entirety of the five game match. With games one and two going to Paly and games three and four went to the Lady Sailors, the fifth game was a battle to the very last point.

The Lady Vikes have lived up to expectations this season, maintaining a nearly perfect record throughout the preseason, regular season, and Central Coast Section (CCS) playoffs. The Lady Vikes’ have lost only three times this season — to Saint Francis, Dos Pueblos and Santa Barbara. After capturing the CCS Championship crown against Menlo-Atherton and beating the team again for the Norcal finals, the Lady Vikes were able to travel to Socal to compete for the State finals.

Graduating only two seniors after the 2010 season, Megan Coleman and Trina Ohms, the Lady Vikes have preserved the core of their team. This core group of players has led the Lady Vikes to the same place: the underdogs in a State Championship game.

Game 1

The Lady Vikes started off strong with an opening kill from middle blocker Melanie Wade (’12). The team went on a six point streak before Marymount was able to respond with a kill. The Lady Sailors only put one point on the board however, and the Lady Vikes quickly regained possession. This continued as every time the Lady Sailors regained service they were only able to put away one point and the Lady Vikes had a quick 12-6 lead. During the match, Paly had to take on versatile roles in order to keep the ball alive.

“Everyone had to be comfortable with the uncomfortable,” Wade said.

Paly rolled with the momentum and the points kept coming, despite a Marymount retaliation. The Lady Vikes controlled the game leading 21-14 in no time at all. Strong defense and powerful kills kept Paly scoring. Marymount regained possession but were unable to make up for the lead and an ace from Maddie Kuppe (’12) ended the first game 25-17.

Game 2

The Lady Sailors came out in the second game with a new fire. Paly was caught a little off guard and struggled to find a rhythm. The score remained closely tied, each time having bursts of scoring mostly due to bad service. Trailing 13-10 Paly calls a timeout to recollect its composure.

Coming off the timeout to a Marymount serve, Wade made an attempt at an outside kill which found its way out of bounds. Paly finally caught a break with Wade killing the ball successfully over the net. The Lady Sailors won the ball back only to have Kuppe respond with a kill of her own making the score 15-12. Middle blocker Jackie Koening (’12) stepped up for the Lady Vikes, getting a key kill to put Paly on the offensive. Libero Shelby Knowles (’13) continued serving for Paly and the points kept coming. Tied 16-16 with the Lady Sailors, Marymount kept hitting while Paly’s defense held strong.

The teams kept going back and forth scoring mostly in response to the other team’s service. Both the Lady Vikes and Lady Sailors came up with key blocks and hits as needed. Tied at 21-21, Wade leapt up and tipped the ball over the net for Paly, while setter Kimmy Whitson (’12) stepped up to serve. After a short rally, Kuppe came up with a clutch kill and before they knew it the Lady Vikes were a point away from putting away the second game, 24-22. Kuppe seemed to pull the kills out of thing air and with one final push, the Lady Vikes had won the second game 25-23.

Game 3

Paly came out looking to finish a match in the final game, quickly gaining a 7-3 lead. Both teams struggled to play consistently, and offense bounced back and forth between the Lady Sailors and the Lady Vikes. Leading 7-6, Paly called a timeout. Kuppe found two more kills in her and Paly held on tight to a 9-8 lead.

Throughout the third game, Paly had several unforced errors and tight referee calls.

“It was really frustrating, it always depends on who the ref is and in this game they were calling it really tight,” Whitson said. “It’s something I have to deal with as a setter. I got unlucky and I made a couple of mistakes but my team backed me up and helped me move on.”

Marymount put up a fight, and managed to tie up the score 11-11. Wade came up big and slammed the ball into the court from the outside regaining a one point lead for Paly. However, the lead didn’t last for long and the teams were tied up 15-15. After Whitson was called for deliberate delaying of the game, the score was tied 18-18. With Kuppe serving and the Lady Sailors returning out of bounds the score stayed tied 20-20. The game was tight to the last second and with the score 23-22 Marymount was serving, when Wade was called for a double touch and the Lady Sailors were serving for the game point and the Lady Vikes could not get the ball over the net, 25-22 and both teams began to prepare for a deciding fourth game.

Overall, the third game was a struggle.

“We should have swept them,” Winn said. “In the third game we made substitution mistake the ref started calling tight on us and it slowly started distracting us. We got our eyes off of our game plan and that’s all Marymount who got a little crack at our armor.”

Game 4

Koenig came out to serve for the Lady Vikes and Paly put the first point of the game on the scoreboard. Leading 4-1, Martin came to serve for Paly but was answered with a kill from the Lady Sailors. Marymount went on a short three point run before Paly regained possession and Wade put away another ace making the score 6-5 Lady Vikes.

Each team went on two or three point runs and the score remained tied throughout the majority of the first portion of the game. Tied 12-12, Kuppe served. Wade had a tip over the net. The lead did not last for long however and the teams were soon tied 15-15. Paly’s serves were quickly responded to with Marymount hits and the Sailors were caught off guard with the plethora of kills coming from Whitson, Kuppe and Wade.

“At every point we thought ‘its zero zero right now’ ‘just one point at a time’ and I think that’s how we pulled through,” Martin said.

Finally, Marymount found a rhythm and with the Lady Sailors leading 20-17. At this point, Paly called a time out. Coming out, Marymount put away another point and before long were leading 22-18. While Paly momentarily regained service, Marymount came up with a key kill and lead 24-20. The Lady Sailors finished the game off when the ball went out of bounds off Kuppe’s fingers.

Game 5

The fifth game started off with a kill coming from Marymount as the Lady Sailors grabbed the first three points before Paly stepped up to the challenge. The Lady Vikes put up two points of their own before the ball returned to Marymount 4-2. Both teams came out firing but the Lady Sailors held fast to a marginal lead. Whitson stepped up to serve the ball but after a short rally Marymount secured the point leading 8-5.

Calling a time out, the Lady Vikes stepped on to the court and gave up another point before Kuppe pulled out another kill making the score 9-6 in the Lady Sailor’s favor. Marymount put away another two points grabbing a 11-7 lead and the Lady Vikes called another time out.

The Lady Vikes came off of this time out firing and closed the gap 13-10. Calling the final Paly time out of the match, the Lady Vikes huddled up and regrouped. Paly came out and put away two more points, trailing only by one point. But the Lady Vikes could not be stopped at this point in the game. Tied first at 13-13. This was a turning point for Kuppe mentally.

“I am so excited about it [serving in high pressure situations],” Kuppe said. Last year, Kuppe served the back-to-back winning aces that led the Lady Vikes to their first State Championship in 2010. “When I realized that I was going to be the next server I panicked but then I thought about it and I was like ‘You know what? We have been here before’. I would rather have myself back there then someone else back there in that kind of pressure. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone else but I need to deal with it.”

Winn agreed that Kuppe’s serves were the right person at the right time.

“Maddie under pressure is the best I have seen, ever,” Winn said. “Two years in a row, just a solid stud behind the line and everyone felt like once they saw her back there like ‘Oh yeah, this is where we are supposed to be'”.

The score tied at 14-14 and finally 15-15. The Lady Vikes finally decided enough was enough. Two unbelievable moments later after Marymount’s outside hitter wailed a ball out of bounds, the Cinderella story had come to a conclusion: the Paly girls had done it again, sweeping the match and the State Championship with a 17-15 win in the fifth game of the match.

This season, the Lady Vikes graduate eight very talented seniors. Four of the Lady Vikes will continue their volleyball careers in college or university. To play Division I, Wade has committed to the University of Washington, Whitson to the University of the Pacific and Kuppe to play at University of Connecticut. Martin will play Division III for Connecticut College.

And for everyone who was a part of the 2011 season, Winn thinks that the unforgettable memories are not limited to solely seniors.

“They will be able to talk about their high school careers being the most amazing of any public school,” Winn said.