After 32 straight victories this season, it would seem that the Palo Alto girls'volleyball team has accomplished just about everything. Well, not quite.

There's still a matter of reaching the Central Coast Section Division II title match on Saturday at Independence High in San Jose. Should the Vikings do that, they'll qualify for the NorCal playoffs next week.

In order to reach the finals, most likely against the nation's No. 1 team in Mitty, Palo Alto will have to avenge one of its three losses this season.

"Yes, it is ironic that our semifinal foe is a team we lost to on Day 1," said Paly coach Dave Winn. "I think it does provide extra motivation since my girls felt they could have beaten Presentation that day. But, we weren't together yet."

Palo Alto lost to Presentation at the Milpitas Spikefest to open the season on Sept. 5. Since then, the Vikings (34-3) haven't lost. They'll take a No. 2 seed against No. 3 Presentation (32-7) on Wednesday in the CCS Division II semifinals at Valley Christian (San Jose) at 5:30 p.m.

The winner gets Mitty while the loser goes home. Mitty plays St. Francis in the other semifinal and has beaten the Lancers twice during the WCAL season -- 25-22, 25-21, 25-14 in the first meeting and 25-13, 25-12, 25-15 in the second. Thus, the Monarchs are heavy favorites to make it three straight over St. Francis.

Presentation also lost twice to Mitty in the league season, but has been steadily improving along with Paly.

"Both Pres and Paly have come a long way since then," said Winn, "and it should be a great match. The winner will truly deserve to be in the CCS finals and NorCals. Of course, I hope it's us. But, Ryan Cooling, the Pres coach (and former Menlo School coach), has been a friend of mine ever since I started coaching. So, it will be bittersweet either way."

Palo Alto ran its remarkable winning streak to 32 straight, tied the school record for most single-season victories, and advanced to the semifinals with a 25-14, 25-15, 25-16 victory over No. 7 Aragon (23-10) on Saturday at Los Gatos High.

Paly's well-balanced attack was led by senior Marissa Florant with 15 kills, junior Trina Ohms with 13, and sophomore Maddie Kuppe with seven. Sophomore Melanie Wade's defense helped Paly big time with five blocks (Wade did not play against Aragon in the Vikings' prior meeting with Aragon at the Menlo tourney). Megan Coleman led in digs with 14.

In Division IV, Sacred Heart Prep advanced to the semifinals with a 25-19, 25-10, 25-21 victory over rival Menlo on Saturday in a quarterfinal match at Sacred Heart Cathedral in San Francisco.

The No. 6-seeded Knights finished their season 16-19 while the No. 3- seeded Gators improved to 21-10. Senior Christine Renschler had 11 kills, Margot Roux provided 23 assists and DeAnna Kneis had 17 digs for Sacred Heart, which will face No. 2 seed Mercy-Burlingame (25-4) in the semifinals on Wednesday at Harker. Mercy defeated SHP twice during the West Bay Athletic League (Foothill Division) season on its way to winning the league title.

Menlo's run of three straight CCS titles came to an end. Senior Sarah Rosales hit .316 with nine kills and three digs. Senior Elizabeth Augustus had 11 digs, and senior Mila Sheeline contributed 10 digs. They played the final match of their prep careers. Also seeing her career end was fellow senior Courtney Laub, whose season ended in September with an injury.

Junior Allie Frappier, who will lead the Knights again next season, added 10 digs and 10 digs and junior Jazmin Moledina recorded three blocks.

In Division I, No. 2-seeded Menlo-Atherton (20-7) qualified for the semifinals on Thursday against No. 6 San Benito (20-17) at Watsonville High (5:30 p.m.) following a 25-8, 25-7, 25-20 romp over No. 7 Gilroy on Saturday, also in Watsonville.

-- Keith Peters