The Palo Alto High School girls’ varsity volleyball team has done it again. The Lady Vikes (12-0 league, 33-3 overall) beat Menlo-Atherton High School (14-0 league, 29-6 overall) in the Division I Central Coast Section (CCS) championship today in three games at Independence High School, with scores of 25-19, 25-19 and 25-14.
Going into the match, the Lady Bears were seeded No. 2 and the Lady Vikes were seeded No. 1.
With three kills from Paly’s Maddie Kuppe (‘12), Melanie Wade (‘12) and Caroline Martin (‘12), the Lady Vikes started off with a solid 3-0 lead on the Lady Bears in the first game. Paly continued this momentum until the Lady Bears hit off Paly’s block to give them their first point at 6-1.
“I think most of the pressure was on them,” Paly libero Ashley Shin (’12) said. “We have people with a lot of experience with big games so we weren’t that nervous.”
Once the Lady Bears were able to grasp control of the game, Paly made several unforced hitting and passing errors and had trouble communicating on defense. At 7-5 Paly however, Wade shot a kill down the middle that shook up Menlo-Atherton defense and Paly continued to lead until the Lady Bears tied up the score at 11-11 with an ace serve. The Lady Vikes managed to control the game, with kills contributed by Wade, Kuppe, Martin and setter Kimmy Whitson (‘12) throughout the play until Martin put the first game away at 25-19 with a solid kill.
The second game of the match was much like the first, with Paly gaining the first point of the game. Tied at 2, Martin served into the net. Wade found openings between the Lady Bears’ blocks several times, and put the game at 5-3 with a kill to center court. After Whitson gained an unforced error for the Lady Vikes to put them at 6-4, the Lady Bears served two back-to-back aces to tie the game. Menlo-Atherton gained the lead at 7-7 when Kuppe hit an attempted roll shot into the net, but the Lady Vikes quickly regained serving possession when the Lady Bears were called on a double. The Lady Vikes kept steady control of the game, but struggled with serving and hitting errors.
“We definitely have serving to work on,” Whitson said. “We struggled in the last match with it too.”
Paly middle blocker Jackie Koenig (‘12) killed a ball straight down the middle to put the Lady Vikes at 16-13.
“Our goal for Norcals and CCS was to go one point at a time,” Koenig said. “We focused on that goal really well. We didn’t think about our misses and just focused on the next play.”
Directly after, Whitson served two back-to-back aces but missed the third, the score now at 18-14 Paly. Wade had several kills, including one down the line that put the Lady Vikes at 23-19. After the Lady Bears doubled to put the score at 24-19, Kuppe closed the game out with a slow roll shot to the middle that set the final score of the second game to 25-19.
In the third game the Lady Bears started off the game 1-0 but a with a tip by Wade to the middle, the score was tied 2-2. At 5-2 Martin served an ace but missed her next serve short. Paly maintained control until at 7-4 the Lady Bears gained momentum with a hit to Paly’s block was sent out of bounds. On the next play however, Kuppe had a strong kill down the line. With Shin serving at 10-6, Shin served an ace to put the Lady Vikes at 11. After Shin served a ball long, Kuppe had a kill to gain serving momentum back for Paly at 14-7. At 15-9, a back-and-forth rally between the front row of both teams was stopped by Whitson who had a strong kill to the left back to put the Lady Vikes at 16.
“I think the main reason we pulled it together was because our energy was so great,” Whitson said. “We continued to focus throughout the match. Our offense was great, our defense was great.”
Kuppe and Wade had two kills for the Lady Vikes to give the team an 8 point lead. Paly maintained a steady lead for the rest of the game, with an ace by Whitson at 21-11 Paly and a slow shot to the middle by Kuppe at 22-13. Martin had a kill to the middle to put the game at 24-13 Paly, but Shin missed her serve. However, after returning the Lady Bears’ serve, Kuppe had a kill down the line to capture the game and the CCS Championship for the Lady Vikes at 25-14.
The Lady Vikes are seeded No. 1 in Norcal quarterfinals and have a bye for the first round. They will play again on Saturday, Nov. 26 at 7 p.m. at home against either Skyline or San Ramon Valley. Click here to see the complete 2011 CIF State Girls Division I volleyball bracket.
“I’m looking to playing at home for the next three games, winning, and going to State,” Whitson said.
