The Palo Alto High School Volleyball team was unable to defeat the Homestead Mustangs after a five set game. It was easily one of the closest games of the season so far. With Paly and Homestead constantly battling for the lead on the court, every play mattered.
The Vikes started off strong in the first set, seizing the lead with aces from Jessica Lee (’17) and Molly Fogarty (’15). Kills by Lauren Kerr (’14) and Becca Raffel (’14) helped the Vikes take the lead 18-13. The Mustangs soon caught up, but Claire Dennis (’16) secured the 23-22 lead with a kill. The Vikings took the first set 25-21.
The momentum was lost and Paly started trailing 3-1 right from the start of the second set. Homestead maintained their lead despite kills from Kerr and Raffel. The Mustangs’ eight point advantage quickly turned into a 25-15 win.
“There were a couple rotations that we got caught in too long,” coach Dave Winn said. “We’re going to have to find a way to score out of them.”
Paly quickly fell behind 4-1 in the third set, unable to keep up with Homestead’s strong offense. After a few errors by the Mustangs, the Lady Vikes managed to seize the 15-14 lead with a kill from Raffel. The Mustang offense rallied to keep up with the Vikes, tying the score 21-21. The Lady Vikes responded to take the set 25-23.
The Vikings kept their momentum and took the 6-3 lead with kills by Raffel and Anna Dukovic (’15). Paly then began to lose focus and allowed Homestead to tie the score 9-9. Both teams fought for the lead, but the Mustangs proved their offense to be stronger and secured the lead 17-13. The Mustangs went on to take the set 25-23.
“I think we could have played a little better,” said Dukovic. “We fought overall pretty hard, just could have been better at times.”
In the fifth and final set, the Mustangs and the Vikings battled neck and neck to clinch the win. Close calls from the refs upset both teams, and the score came to a 9-9 tie. The Mustangs managed to take the lead and defeat the Paly Vikings 15-11 in the final set, taking the win back to Homestead.
“We played pretty hard,” said Winn. “We didn’t execute when we needed to execute and we’re gonna have to work on that. That was definitely a match that was there for the taking.”
The Lady Vikes will be taking on the Mountain View Spartans next Thursday at 6:45 p.m. in Spartan territory.
