For the 2010 Palo Alto High School girls volleyball team, last year was a banner year. The Lady Vikes dropped jaws throughout the entire Palo Alto community by not only winning the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League (SCVAL) De Anza Division title, the first-ever Central Coast Section (CCS) championship, and the Northern California championship, but they captured the ultimate cherry-on-top: Division I State title.
The boys varsity football team also captured a historic state title last season and the entire Paly community seemed to have some sort of amazing, golden championship glow. You couldn’t walk through the quad without seeing at least one person wearing a ‘state champions!’ football or volleyball shirt around campus. Pictures from the parade of champions were suddenly everywhere on Facebook. And was it just me, or was the air in Palo Alto fresher? The water coming from my kitchen sink more delicious? The nectar from the flowers in my garden so much sweeter knowing we had captured two state victories in one year? Okay, maybe that was just me.
But there’s no doubt that the Paly volleyball team changed something last year. They started a legacy that will never be forgotten. Even if other future Paly teams can match their talent and nearly perfect season, the 2010 team will forever be “that first team to do the impossible.” Younger generations of volleyball players will always think of those special dozen athletes as icons. Perhaps the those twelve will appear on cereal boxes or start trends as Halloween costume ideas. Again, is it just me that thinks these kinds of things?
As a member of the Paly sports community on the Paly girls’ varsity basketball team (and a former Paly volleyball player up until my sophomore year), I have to bring up the question that everyone is asking: Can they do it again?
As someone who attended almost every varsity volleyball game at Paly last fall, I witnessed time and time again as the Lady Vikes crushed their opponents. Their unmatchable defense contributed to their nearly undefeated record of 41-1, with only one slip-up loss to Los Gatos High School (10-2) in a league game at home. One thing that set Paly apart from other teams was their ability to focus and regroup their effort even if they were in a hole. If they were down by seven points, that didn’t mean anything. It was almost as if a deficit allowed them to push harder, play even better rather than getting frustrated and letting their guard down. In other words, the Lady Vikes had more than just skill. They had perseverance and heart. After all, it was NBA legend Michael Jordan who said, “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.”
This type of mentality allowed them to capture win after win, title after title until they found themselves at the San Jose State Event Center to compete against Long Beach Poly for the state finals. In the same mindset they carried all year, the Lady Vikes found themselves in a 12-9 deficit in the fifth set of the game, which only goes to 15 points for the win. What must have been the most nerve-racking next plays of their lives (just as an audience member in the crowd, I found my hands suddenly clammy, and my cotton candy gone within seconds), the Lady Vikes not only managed to climb out of the hole, but to close the gap to a score of 15-14. Down by one. After Long Beach Poly overshot an attempted kill out of bounds, the game was left almost literally in Paly outside hitter Maddie Kuppe’s (‘12) hands (by this point I swear I couldn’t breath) with the game tied at 15-15, Paly. The Viking (Volume 4, Issue 6) named what happened next the “#1 Top Sports Moment of 2010-2011” when Kuppe served back-to-back aces to clutch not only the game, but a historical moment for the Palo Alto community.
This year, the team will be different. After graduating two seniors last year, libero Megan Coleman (‘11) and outside hitter Trina Ohms (‘11), the team has lost two talented players from the historic team. Last season, Ohms contributed a whopping 380 kills and 38 aces for the Lady Vikes. Coleman had 543 digs and 51 aces for Paly, a huge defensive contribution for the season. Although the team will take a blow by losing these two players, the roster still has nine returning state champions: Jackie Koenig (‘12), Maddie Kuppe (’12), Melanie Wade (‘12), Ally Kron (‘12), Kimmy Whitson (‘12), Caroline Martin (‘12), Tiffany Tsung (’12), Savannah Owens (‘13), and Shelby Knowles (‘13).
“The all around expectations for our team are a lot higher [this year],” Paly returning defensive specialist Shelby Knowles said. “Our coach is pushing us a lot harder and trying new things because he knows that everybody is going to be after us now.”
So who are the new faces to this years’ team? Ashley Shin (‘12) was on the 2009 varsity team, and is returning this year.
“I didn’t play last year because I didn’t want to have to balance the pressures of the junior year workload with volleyball,” Shin said. “I’m really excited to come back this year because I missed a lot last year and we have a really good team with a lot of potential.”
Becca Raffel (‘13), Lauren Kerr (‘14), Bella Graves (‘14), Haley Owens (‘13), Sophia Bono (‘13), and Keri Gee (‘14) are new, which means that the team now consists of sixteen players instead of last years’ twelve on the original roster.
The bottom line? The team will be losing eight valuable seniors after this season, and will need to rebuild its team chemistry and talent in the coming years. Both Wade and Kuppe will be key to the team’s success this year, as they contributed 227 and 537 kills total last season, respectively. Wade was honored last season at the Most Valuable Player in the state. The two have been on the team since their freshman year and will be important as team leaders this season. Also returning are key players Kimmy Whitson, Jackie Koenig and Caroline Martin. Whitson had an astounding 1148 assists as a setter last season, and Koenig and Martin had 80 and 167 kills respectively. But for right now, the Lady Vikes need to focus on what they’ve got.
“It’s going to be harder to play [next year],” Knowles said. “But since we have a larger team this year there’s a lot of sophomores that are going to have to step up their play. Being on varsity this year will prepare them for next year.”
So can they do it? Can they repeat the famous season that will never be forgotten? Well, I wish I could say I knew for sure, and that I was already planning on what to wear to the ‘parade of champions round two’ celebration. But unfortunately, I don’t. But I can tell you that I think if the Lady Vikes bring the same heart that they applied to the game last year, impossible will be nothing. The key to the Lady Vikes season will be this: just play. Start this year off clean and take every game one step at a time. Last year, the players didn’t wake up one morning and decide “We’re going to win state.” It came from their hard work, their passion for the sport and the dedication they demonstrated with each and every game. They have to bring that same mentality this year as they did last year, even if they are down 9-12 in the fifth set of the championship game. Because if I’ve learned one thing from watching this team, it’s that they won’t go down without a fight.
