West Valley Vikings start strong, finish big to sweep Coast-South rival De Anza

CCCAA Women's Volleyball: Scoreboard l Standings

SARATOGA - When the Coast Conference realignment was revealed over the summer, many West Valley women's volleyball fans circled the Oct. 18 match at neighborhood rival De Anza on their calendars. The Vikings and the Dons, now Coast-South combatants, met Friday night in Cupertino with WVC returning to Saratoga with an exciting 25-16, 25-21, 30-28 sweep.

After falling behind 2-1 in set one, the Vikings (12-7, 4-1 Coast-South) roared to a 14-4 lead and cruised to a 25-16 win. West Valley never trailed in a tighter second set, grabbing a 22-17 lead and then holding off the Dons (11-8, 2-2) 25-21.

And then came the epic third set. De Anza used the three-minute break between sets to regroup outside the gym and came out fired up. The Dons jumped out to a 9-4 lead, but the Vikings closed to within 20-16 and then tied it at 22-22. After the best rally of the night gave De Anza a set point at 23-22, a Rene Wash kill evened the score and, a point later, Hannah Reynoso was serving for the match with a 24-23 Viking lead. A net call made it 24-24 and then the teams traded points, with the Dons staving off match points at 27-26 - after an Audrey Fernandez ace - and 28-27. A thunderous Wash cross-court kill set up match point at 29-28. Kayla Keller served up an ace for the 30-28 WVC win. 

Hannah Moore paced the WVC stat sheet with 11 kills, 13 digs and two solo blocks. Wash had seven kills and 2.5 blocks while Della Trimble handed out 38 assists and came up with eight digs. Aaryan Hashimi, just back from a month-long absence due to injury, pounded out eight kills, and Fernandez and Renee Martin finished with three aces each. The Vikings begin a four-match homestand Oct. 23 with a 5:30 pm non-conference match against Los Medanos (13-11, 6-1 Bay Valley).

(Matt Folsom, West Valley College Athletics)