Paly girl’s water polo came off a strong fall ‘23 season, ranking 8th in the Open Division of CCS, 2nd in the league, and with an overall 74% winning rate. 

Last year, water polo placed third in Division 1 of CCS, and have gotten even stronger this year, taking their ranking into the highest CCS bracket, Open Division. This season the girls managed to take wins against top competitors like Gunn, Los Gatos, Harker, and Cartilleja. Their league win-to-lose record was 13-2 this season, which is an impressive feat for our Vikings.

One of the memorable moments of the season was beating Los Gatos 8-7 on September 7th. Sophomore Maeva Herbertpaz believes the win proved how hard the team had worked throughout the season.  

“It was a super close game, and the win was just one of the biggest highlights of the season,” said Herberpaz. “It was a really uplifting experience because prior to the game, we thought we would be destroyed by them.”

Another highlight of the Vikings’ season was senior night. In previous seasons, Paly’s crosstown rivals the Gunn Titans have had a team that remained largely dominant, as they split wins with Paly last year, and won over Paly 3 times the year before that.

However, after strong senior players of opposing teams graduated in the following years, this year, it was Paly’s time to shine. With rising talents in the sophomore and freshman players, as well as returning upperclassmen, the Vikings were able to boast an extremely impressive team this year. On their senior night, which was the last home game of the regular season, Paly was able to take down Gunn 9-2, making their record against them 2-0 this season.

“It was really nice to celebrate such an amazing final season with my team,” senior Anne Threlkeld said. “Playing Gunn also made it that much better because we have struggled to beat them in past years, so it was exciting to showcase how much we’ve grown this year.”

Inevitably, after spending at least two hours a day, six times a week with one another, the team grew close. This made it a tough end of the season having lost to Sacred Heart in the Quarterfinals of CCS with a score of 16-2. They worked incredibly hard and were showing constant improvements. Sophomore Grace Henderson thinks the team has strengthened their unity in the pool. 

“By the end of the season, nothing was about an individual on the team, we really started working together,” said Henderson (26). 

The girls should be proud of their commitment to the sport and the massive achievements they made this year. Sko Vikes!