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It was time to enjoy the moment after the Palo Alto girls' volleyball team opened the Central Coast Section Division II playoffs with a quick sweep of visiting Westmont on Wednesday night.

First and foremost, the Vikings' 25-9, 25-9, 25-22 victory was the last home match of the season, and thus the triumph was a fitting sendoff for Paly's six-member senior class. Second, fourth-seeded Palo Alto (32-6) now heads into a most difficult stretch of the playoffs against two perennial powerhouses, with one the best team in the nation.

So, now come the real tests. The Vikings will face No. 5 St. Francis in Saturday's quarterfinals at Valley Christian (San Jose) at 11 a.m. The Lancers (23-10) advanced with a sweep of No. 12 Leland on Wednesday. Paly coach Dave Winn believes no Palo Alto team has ever beaten the Lancers.

Should Paly get by St. Francis, next up in the semifinals will be top-seeded Mitty (34-1), which this week was elevated to No. 1 in the nation in the ESPN Rise Fab 50 poll. Palo Alto has yet to beat the Monarchs.

On Wednesday, none of that mattered as the Vikings controlled Westmont behind the remarkable performance of freshman Melanie Wade, a 6-foot-3 middle blocker. Wade had 17 kills in just 21 swings with no errors, resulting in what Winn called "a ridiculous" .810 hitting percentage.
"Westmont had no answer for Melanie tonight," Winn said. "You might say that Wade whomped the Warriors."

Palo Alto also got its usual steady outing from senior Ally Whitson (13 kills, 4 blocks, 5 digs); six kills and 12 digs from junior Marissa Florant; 34 assists and eight digs from senior setter Allie Coleman; 13 digs from Megan Coleman and six blocks from senior Daniella Florant.
Paly hit a dominating .378 as a team (41 kills on seven errors), and now can turn its attention to the daunting task of taking on St. Francis in the quarterfinals.

"To my knowledge, Paly has never beaten St. Francis in volleyball in its history," Winn said, "so to continue this historic season, it will take our best effort."

In another Division II opener on Wednesday, No. 11 Gunn (18-17) saw its season end in a 25-13, 25-10, 25-18 loss at No. 6 Woodside (22-12).

In quarterfinal matches on Saturday:

Second-seeded Menlo (30-6) will face No. 7 Santa Catalina (18-7) in a CCS Division IV match at Aptos High at 3 p.m. Sacred Heart Prep (20-10), seeded No. 5, will play at No. 4 Harker at 1 p.m. In a CCS Division V match, No. 3 Castilleja (12-15) and No. 6 Pinewood (13-12) will meet each other at San Mateo High at 1 p.m.

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