Once again, the Palo Alto High School (20-3, 7-0) varsity volleyball team came out fired up for an at-home victory against the Mountain View Spartans (12-14, 3-4).

According to head coach Dave Winn, it was the strategic serving on the end of the Vikings that led to the win and prevented the Spartans from scoring.

“I did think that they were going to bring a fire against us this time, but we played even better this time,” Winn said. “Our serving was really tough on everybody and we did a great job taking care of our side of the net.”

The Lady Vikes came out strong in the first game and were up 9-3 due to kills from Melanie Wade (’12) and Maddie Kuppe (’12). Setter Kimmy Whitson (’12) was all over the court adapting to particularly low or high digs from Shelby Knowles (’13) and Caroline Martin (’12). Despite blocks from the Spartan’s Stanford-bound outside hitter Brittany Howard (’12), Paly managed to maintain a least a three-point lead throughout the game, and won 25-19.

The first few rallies of the second game went back and forth as the Vikings and Spartans entered a battle of kills. Kuppe and Wade were answered back by Howard until Paly pulled away with a 10-5 lead. Following a Spartan timeout, Paly continued to pull ahead due to good digging and solid offense from Whitson and Wade. Mountain View errors combined with key offensive plays put Paly ahead by nine, 17-8. Wade’s kills were unstoppable for the rest of the game, and the Lady Vikes prevailed 25-15.

Back to back aces from Wade and Martin combined with kills from Kuppe put the Vikings on top 10-3 at the start of the third game. Kills from Howard and and missed Viking blocks gave the Spartans a few more points, but Paly quickly regained momentum that carried on for the majority of the game. The Vikings came out on top, finishing off the game 25-11.

Kuppe also noted the important role that serving played in her team’s league victory.
“In our past few matches, serving has been a weakness of ours,” Kuppe said. “In practice, we’ve been incorporating serving into things that we do every few plays. We’ve worked hard to [improve] our serves in pressure situations.”

The Lady Vikes take on Los Altos at home at 6:45 next Thursday, October 20.