Even when the other team is making a huge run or winning a game, the Los Gatos High girls volleyball team doesn’t panic. That demeanor starts at the top with coach Brynja Thompson and goes down to the players.
That’s why when Palo Alto High took Game 2 of the teams’ Santa Clara Valley League De Anza Division match on Oct. 19, Los Gatos hardly flinched. Instead, the Wildcats won the next two games to clinch the match in four games. Game scores were 25-14, 23-25, 25-19, 25-17 .
“These girls are working hard for that league and CCS title, but they’re also on a point to point basis where they’re working very hard for the person next to them,” Thompson said. “And that’s why this team is going to go very far. They don’t always consume themselves with the outcome of what’s going to happen in two weeks or what’s going to happen in November. They are truly committed to play each point not for themselves, not for names on their jerseys, but for their best friend and their teammate standing next to them. That’s a special thing that I didn’t teach them to do, and they do it very well.”
The Palo Alto match was a microcosm of the entire season. Nine different players had kills, a testament to the Wildcats’ balance and depth. Freshman Nicole Steiner led the way with nine kills, and Hannah Slover and Eileen Chen had seven kills each.
Los Gatos also had 12 service aces, a huge total led by Chen’s four and Siena Adams’ three. Allison Black had four solo blocks and Steiner two to lead things at the net. Libero Emily Gouldrup along with others came up with spectacular digs and played solid defense throughout.
Thompson praised Chen for her consistency.
“Eileen does it all,” Thompson said. “She provides such an all-around game that she is going to shine in almost anything she does. Players sometimes have bad days—Eileen doesn’t have bad days—but players sometimes do have bad days so if they struggle in one category, an all-around player is able to pick it up in another category where their team needs them, and that is something Eileen will always have the ability to do for us.”
Steiner is a freshman but doesn’t play like one, showing a maturity in her game beyond her years.
“Nicole is so valuable and has been through the roof awesome,” Thompson said.
The 6-foot-2 Slover had a terrific all-around game and delivered a thunderous kill late in the match that drew the Wildcats’ fans out of their seats and oohs and ahhs from her teammates on the sideline.
“Hannah is a wonderful player on and off the court,” Thompson said. “No matter where we put her, no matter what job we give her—it could be over here standing with her teammates on the sideline while others go play—she will do it to the best of her ability. Coach Chris (Crader of Palo Alto) is right—she has a cannon of an arm left in her and obviously the setting skills she has is proving to be extremely valuable. Her defense, her serve-receive, she’s an all-around fantastic player.”
Natalie Anthony added five kills for Los Gatos, which went 3-2 in the Milpitas Spikefest II on Oct. 16. Thompson was proud of the players for continually adjusting and wanting to grow as a team.
“They played wonderfully at Spikefest and they’re always getting better,” Thompson said. “Maybe it doesn’t look like it sometimes, but what the scoreboard and stats don’t see is all the new stuff they’re implementing from literally the previous day’s practice. They’ve got something new to put out, they try it every single time and they’re not always successful right away, but by golly they never back down, which is awesome. They continue to go at it and they have definitely gotten better since the Spikefest, and all the credit goes to them.”
Sports reporter Emanuel Lee can be reached at el**@we*****.com
