The Palo Alto High School boys’ varsity volleyball team defeated crosstown rival Gunn High School 3-1 on Wednesday afternoon in a four-set home victory.

It wasn’t Paly’s most powerful performance of the season. The Vikings struggled to find their rhythm offensively during the entirety of the match, never playing at the level that they are capable of. But what allowed them to power through and come out of this matchup victorious was their discipline. Paly minimized errors by going back to the basics, letting Gunn crack and fall.

“We weren’t playing our best volleyball tonight, honestly,” sophomore setter Nico Resmini said. “But we stayed clean and consistent, not giving them any free points, and in a rivalry match like this, that is the most important thing you can do when two teams are battling it out.”

The Vikings took the first set 25-21 before dropping the second set 21-25, a set in which Gunn was able to capitalize on Paly’s cockiness. But rather than unraveling, Paly stayed composed and leaned on their consistency, minimizing unforced errors and forcing Gunn to fight with every fiber for each point they got.

It worked, as the Vikings finished off the third and fourth sets 25-20 and 25-20, never letting Gunn build momentum to threaten Paly.

“It wasn’t pretty, Resmini said. “But a win over Gunn is a win over Gunn, and we will take that over a loss any day.”

This victory shows the will of this Paly squad and their ability to get results and carve out wins from nights where they don’t play their best game.