In a continuation of their impressive 5-1 league record, the girls volleyball team surpassed Gunn 3-0 in a close match Tuesday, October 22. The team attributes their victory to their consistency and competitive energy.

“Overall, it wasn’t our best match of the season, but we were consistent in every set of the match, and volleyball is, after all, all about consistency and energy,” senior Hanna Koehler said. “Luckily, we had both of those things today and we were able to come out on top.”

The first set started out with some back and forth action between the Eagles and Gunn as both teams struggled to gain a decisive lead.

“We started off the match playing a little tentative, so they were able to keep up with us,” Hanna said.

In particular, the Eagles struggled at first to get into a rhythm and play cohesively as a team. But once the team scored some good serves and kills from junior Carmen Annevelink, they rallied their spirit and pulled ahead to win 25-23.

In the second set, a powerful serving run highlighted with three aces in a row by junior Joyce Christiansen-Salameh forced two Gunn time-outs and powered Los Altos into the double digits. Gunn managed to pull their act together, but Los Altos maintained a consistent lead and soared to a 25-20 win.

“I think the reason we were able to get a comfortable lead a few times in the match was because of our aggressive serving strategy…which translated into several aces,” Hanna said.

In the final set, the Eagles shot ahead to an almost 10 point lead, only to have Gunn catch up to 21. However, from that point on, the Eagles shut out Gunn to take home the evening’s victory.

“In each set, we tended to gain a lead, but then we would let Gunn back in the game, which is why the score was so close,” senior Meghan McDermott said.

Despite the tough match, the Eagles proved their ability to pull together as a team and focus on the competition.

“Something that really is about this team is that they are up for the match, up for the challenge of competing against another team,” head coach Peter Kim said. “The girls are out there competing every day at practice and during matches and it shows [on the court].”

The Eagles look to advance their success in their match against Los Gatos this Thursday, October 24 at 6:45 p.m.