As Paly setter Kimmy Whitson’s serve sailed through the air, everyone held their breath. With the Lady Vikes down 14-13 in the fifth game of the California Interscholastic Federation title match on Dec. 4, one serve into the net would end the nearly perfect season in a second. Forty wins, one loss, one serve.

The ball floated through the air, clipping the net as the crowd cringed. An inch lower, and the Lady Vikes would lose their chance at a CIF championship.

Winning and losing can be decided by the smallest of details. A batter who unloads on a fastball just a split second too late in the bottom of the ninth can end the game. A missed free throw can lose a game – or a swish can win it. A safety in the first quarter can be the difference in a state championship football game. In important games, these seemingly insignificant details are magnified.

A well-executed spike can turn into a story for the grandchildren, or a mental mistake can mean everlasting regret.

Their mantra was written on the whiteboard for a week before the state title match.  It was ingrained in the minds of every Paly volleyball player.  Head coach Dave Winn made sure of that.

“Winning and losing fade with time, but glory and regret last forever.”

Game one.

Under the metal halide lights at the San Jose State University Event Center, the Paly volleyball team began its quest for the title with Paly’s 2010 trademark: a strong, solid kill.

This one came from middle blocker Melanie Wade (’12), setting the stage for an easy win in game one – a win that seemed similar to many of the Lady Vikes’ 104 other set wins.

The volleyball team, like Paly’s football team, made winning a habit in 2010.  But one difference between the teams before the season started was senior leadership:  The volleyball team had just two seniors.

Despite a reliance on younger players, the Vikes played like a collection of varsity veterans. But what makes this team so strong? Is it the combination of great independent players? The team chemistry? The coach?

Of the twelve players on the regular season team, nine went to Jordan Middle School, two went to JLS and one moved to Palo Alto freshman year. While the players all have strong personalities and different styles of play, they put it all together on the court with a common goal in mind.

“The fact that we’ve grown up together with the sport is helpful,” Wade said. “We know each other really well. We know our strengths and how we react to certain situations.”

For a team that plays together at least five days a week for over three months, unity on the court is essential.  Some teams are tight-knit groups of people, while others are composed of players who come together to accomplish a common goal.

“[The players] respect each other,” Winn said.  “Is everyone best friends? No. But the team goals have to be greater than the individual goals.  And if everyone abides by that, all of the issues work themselves out.”

With the chance to make history, Winn called up six junior varsity players in November for the last several weeks of the haul.  These are the players who will continue the legacy.

“At first I was really nervous to be called up, but it means a lot to me,” setter Sophia Bono (’13) said.  “All of these girls are amazing and supportive. It’s really fun to be on the varsity team and I can’t wait for next year.”

The valuable experience that underclassmen received by being on the team for the championship run will benefit the team in future years, according to middle blocker Charlotte Alipate (’14).

“It’s a great experience,” Alipate said.  “Knowing what Paly volleyball is going to be like in the future and bringing up the intensity, bringing up my game over the [next few years] is just going to be amazing.  I love it.”

Thus, even without a team of “best friends,” the Lady Vikes managed to consistently get it done throughout the season.

Game two.

After the first game, Paly’s chances against the No. 1 team in the nation looked surprisingly good, but sure enough, Long Beach Poly came right back with a convincing win.

If you ask Paly’s players or coaches about their focus this season, they will all tell you the same thing:  They chopped up the season into tiny fractions, focusing on each individual point every match, rather than the big picture.

“Dave’s motif is to ‘climb the mountain,’ basically meaning to go for every point and just take it one step at a time,” outside hitter Maddie Kuppe (’12) said.  “We wouldn’t have such a good record if we were thinking about the end result.”

And, though Paly found itself down by a score of 15-8 early in the second game, the Lady Vikes came back in an attempt to summit the mountain and take a commanding 2-0 lead.
Long Beach Poly would have none of it.  The Jackrabbits and their aggressive, powerful style adjusted to Paly’s unfamiliar NorCal play.
“Paly’s hitting was a lot different,” Long Beach middle hitter Litara Keil (’11) said. “There was a lot of tipping and a lot of roll shots.  We were expecting them to play hard defense and to pound the ball, but it was a whole different game – a lot softer and a lot slower.”
By overcoming powerful kills from Wade and outside hitter Trina Ohms (’11), Long Beach Poly won the game, 25-20, tying up the match.

Game three.

The third set seemed to last an eternity.  After the Jackrabbits led, Paly tied the game at 21 apiece.  Then, Paly called a crucial timeout.

With its combination of powerful offense and sturdy defense, the Lady Vikes rebounded, taking the next four points of the crucial third game, putting themselves in the driver’s seat with a 2-1 lead.

Tight matches and losing were both uncommon instances for the Lady Vikes this year.  Other than their lone loss to Los Gatos, the Lady Vikes were on top of the world.

In contrast, the 2009 Paly volleyball team played in 14 match-deciding games.  The Lady Vikes won 11 of them.

“Our mantra last year [was that] we were the redeem team,” Winn said of his 2009 team. “If we lost one game, we’d come out and win the next game.  This year, it’s more about establishing excellence, and continuing it.”

All the way back in October, the Lady Vikes came out of their locker room at Paly and loosened up, getting ready for one of the toughest – and most anticipated – matches of the year.  The two seniors knew it would be their last time facing Los Gatos, Paly’s relentless foe.

But as the Vikes warmed up on Oct. 21, practicing their digs and spiking balls over the net before the game, someone was missing.

Kuppe, the 6’1″ outside hitter, sat by herself at the end of the bench.  Sidelined for six weeks with a stress reaction in her left tibia, Kuppe could not do anything.  She looked on as her teammates prepared for the huge game.  The match was the only other five game contest of the season, and also the only loss for Paly.  As Kuppe, who had 227 kills throughout the course of the season, sat in the corner, she knew that this game was different than the three others she had already missed.  This one meant more.

“I was close to tears before the game,” she said.  “I really wanted to be playing.”

So when the Lady Vikes could not come back in the fifth game on that rainy October night, no one could believe it.

“There’s a little bit of bittersweetness – well, not even sweetness, bitterness,” Paly parent and teacher Debbie Whitson, who has been a parent on the volleyball team for the past six years, said.  “But I think that losing made them better.  The [attitude] was, ‘Ok, here’s what we have to work on.  And if we don’t work on it, then this is what it’s going to look like.'”

After that match, the Lady Vikes faced the facts: rebound, or be eliminated.  Without regrets, Paly chose the former. Going undefeated for three months is not always going to be feasible, no matter how high expectations are.

“It’s hard to have any regrets about anything this season,” Coach Winn said.  “I’m not sure we [would have done] as well as we did had we not had that loss.”

Game four.

Not so fast.

Long Beach Poly came out of the gates at a sprint in the fourth game.  Paly players and fans couldn’t believe it.  A 25-11 loss?

At the outset, people who knew Paly volleyball knew it would be a good season.  They knew that the combination of a University of Pennsylvania-bound outside hitter, a 6’5″ middle blocker and the returning dig leader would result in success. Paly’s jump to Division I didn’t hurt either; it meant that powerhouse teams such as Archbishop Mitty High School and St. Francis High School (Mountain View) would not stand in Paly’s way on the journey to the state championship. For the first time in recent history, a Paly team had expectations for state. The 2010 volleyball team was supposed to be good.

Paly’s championship season was analogous to the life of Pip in Great Expectations.  As they continued along their journey, the Lady Vikes, like Pip, had one thing on their minds: the expectations.

“It’s not like the De La Salle [football team] woke up one morning and said, ‘Hey, we’re gonna win 151 football games in a row,'” Winn said.  “They got better to the point that, at the beginning of every year, it was expected that they were going to go undefeated.”

And this year, after several improving seasons, that type of high expectation came Paly’s way.

Kuppe’s front row partner, Wade, stated this loud and clear.

“The Paly volleyball program is a lot more intense and hard core [this year]. The expectations are a lot higher.”

Unlike the football team this year, the volleyball team believed that it would experience something amazing and real – before it actually happened.

“The girls have the expectation this year that we should go to state,” Winn said.  “So it’s not this sort of reaching ‘if we could do it.’ No Disney-like story, it actually happened.”

But with Long Beach in control, the big game four loss set up a final sprint.

Game five.

The game for it all. Upset of the year, or surviving a scare?

“At the beginning of game five, knowing that they had gone five games, I was very satisfied,” Debbie Whitson said.  “It was one of those things like, ‘Ok, they made it five games, this is what they wanted.'”

With any extremely close play, a season built upon expectations could have been thrown out the window.  And that’s why Winn emphasized every single point for the entire season.

But even with this intense focus, no one knew if it would really be possible to beat the No. 1 team in the country.
With the score at 12-9 in Long Beach’s favor, almost all hope was lost.  Maybe next year.

Coach Winn called a timeout.

“Let’s win it.”

But it’s not that easy.  The Lady Vikes came out and fought, but they lost two of the next five points.

The score stood at 14-12.  All Long Beach Poly had to do was win one of the next two points.

A NorCal title is nice.  That’s three banners in one season.

As long as Paly had no regrets, a loss was acceptable.  Everyone on the 2010 Paly volleyball team has more volleyball ahead of them.

No one knew that the team’s final opportunity would depend on the last six points of the season. Over the course of the season, Paly played 4,807 points.  Six points is about .0012% of that. But in this case, these six points meant everything.

So, after the long battle, it seemed like Paly was ready to accept defeat.  And, with the score at 14-13, it looked like the net would bring it.

As the ball lingered on the net, gravity decided whether Paly would earn a gold or silver season.  Everyone in the Event Center let out a collective gasp at the same instant.

In a fairytale-esque play, Kimmy Whitson’s serve willed itself over the net.  Poly returned it, but the Lady Vikes won the rally to stay alive. With the score tied at 14-14, Paly could not be stopped.

After each team scored another point, Kuppe ended it with her two most important aces of the season.

“It’s indescribable,” Kuppe said.

Paly players, coaches, parents, trainers and fans went crazy.

“I just thought, ‘Oh my God, they won,'” Debbie Whitson said. “And then I don’t know what happened to me.  You were kind of just lost in that moment. Totally unbelievable. It was spectacular, if I had one word to describe it.  It was definitely the cherry on top of the ice cream.”

In the minutes and days following the match, a flurry of positive emotions swept the Paly community: First it was disbelief. Then vivacity. And finally, relaxation.

“The rush you get from winning, and the pain you get from losing, they really only last a short amount of time,” Winn said. “Compared to either glory – doing something heroic – or the pain of regret, meaning you could have done something better.  That will live with you much longer than losing a match.”

Though the Lady Vikes had been expected to do well in Central Coast Section play and the NorCal tournament, the state championship win brought the Cinderella story of an underdog Northern California team to a close. In a matter of seconds, the volleyball team was launched to a seemingly unreachable rank of No. 10 in the nation (prepvolleyball.com), earning the fourth banner of the season and leaving 18 girls with an unforgettable journey that theoretically can only be outdone by an undefeated season. But in reality, it was perfect.

Kimmy Whitson, Paly’s workhorse who finished with 1,148 assists (over 1,000 more than any other Lady Vike), could not instantly realize the magnitude of what the 2010 Paly volleyball team accomplished.

“I was just in shock after we won. Now, we want to prove that it wasn’t a fluke and that we’re good enough to do it again.”

When the Paly players rushed the floor of the Event Center that night, all expectations, all pressure, all doubts, were vanquished. A ball that clipped the net may have made all the difference. One season full of triumph hung in the air with that ball. The collective gasp from the crowd could have been Paly’s very last. Instead, the fans, coaches and players exhaled, wiped their foreheads and four serves later the Vikes were state champions. And nothing can ever take that away.