Katrina Reuter (10) and Rianna Brennan (13) helped block Saratoga's upset bid
The League championship will be at stake Thursday evening in Palo Alto when Los Gatos attempts to avenge its only league volleyball loss this season.
Earlier this year, Palo Alto held off a furious Los Gatos rally and won in five games 3-2. The Vikings hold a 22-3 overall record, 8-0 in league while Los Gatos sits at 21-8, 7-1 in league play.
Los Gatos’ latest win was a thrilling five-game victory over Saratoga last Thursday. Los Gatos found itself trailing two games to none, but rallied back to take the final three games and beat the Falcons for the second time this season.
The Wildcats were cruising along in game one, leading 19-17 and generally controlling the action. But the Falcons scored seven straight points to go up 24-19 and won the opening game 25-20.
Saratoga, pumped up by the late rally in game one, then went on to beat Los Gatos in game two 25-21.
“Saratoga was playing incredible defense and making almost no errors at all,” said Los Gatos coach Dan Hoefer. “Their blocking and defense were frustrating our offense.”
Los Gatos found itself trailing 20-15 in game three and looking a quick evening in the eye when Hoefer decided to insert junior outside hitter Maddie Guenther into the contest for the first time in the match. She was just what the doctored ordered.
“Maddie had an immediate impact,” said Hoefer. “She had four kills in game three and a run at the service line. That and Kate Walters’ leadership from the setter position had an effect in turning the game around.”
Los Gatos stormed back and won game three 25-23, scoring 10 of the last 13 points. The momentum had changed.
“We seemed to carry the momentum and held it through game five,” said Hoefer. “The team’s never-give-up attitude kept them in the match.”
Los Gatos won game four handily 25-20 and then won 15-6 in the deciding game five.
The Wildcats had three hitters with double-digit kills. Guenther ended up with 11, sophomore outside hitter Katie Johnson had 10 and freshman right-side attacker Rianna Brennan had 10.
Junior Katrina Reuter had three kills and four blocks, and senior Kelly Colyer led the team with 28 digs. Senior Allison Halbert had 15 digs.
Los Gatos recently competed in two tough tournaments. On October 10, Los Gatos hosted the Wildcat Open and won its first three games before losing 2-1 to Valley Christian in the championship match.
A week later, the Wildcats competed in the Panther Classic at Presentation High School and beat Notre Dame Belmont and Redwood High School of Larkspur in their first two games before dropping their final two games to Mitty and St. Francis, the top two teams in the CCS.
Following this week’s battle with Palo Alto, Los Gatos will close out its regular season with home matches against Gunn and Homestead next Tuesday and Thursday in Helm Gym. CCS Playoff action will begin the following week.
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PaloAlto Fri, Oct 30, 2009 - 11:00 am
Last nights game against Palo Alto High School was one of the most thrilling games ever. Los Gatos played an amazing game against Paly. Both teams were burning up that court. It was truly thrilling!
Disgusted Fri, Oct 30, 2009 - 10:00 pm
CCS. State Sanctioned Cheating. It is terribly unfair that the private schools are in the public school league. It is well known that private schools can recruit, while Public Schools have to work with the talent that lives within their district. It creates a glass ceiling that is totally unfair and disheartening to public school teams. While in tournament play it would be fun to play such teams for the experience, it really stinks that Mitty and St. Francis are the only teams who have the opportunity to go to State. So many hold that opinion, yet nothing is ever done about it.