Dave Winn knew it was going to end eventually. His Palo Alto girls' volleyball team was down to its final three matches of the season and chances were good that it wasn't to last that long. It didn't.

Palo Alto saw its highly successful season end in a 25-18. 20-25, 25-18, 25-15 loss to No. 2-seeded St. Francis-Sacramento (39-6) on Saturday in the semifinals of the NorCal Division II playoffs in Sacramento.

The Vikings finished 36-5 during a season that was highlighted by a 33-match winning streak, a first appearance in the Central Coast Section finals since 2000 as well as the first trip to the NorCal playoffs in nine years.

"Well, we just had an off night at the wrong time," Winn said. "None of my starters had their best game, and most had a below average game. We did a decent job of slowing down SF's middles, but didn't pick up enough shots from their outsides. They out-dug us by quite a bit. Because of that, their hitting efficiency was much better than ours (.270 vs. .156). We made a lot more hitting errors than normal because I think some girls lost their focus."

Had Palo Alto been able to salvage a victory, the Vikings would have earned a rematch with defending NorCal champ Mitty. The unbeaten Monarchs, who beat Paly in the CCS Division II finals, would have hosted the Vikings on Tuesday night and been favored to end Paly's season then.

Getting to the state championship match just wasn't in the cards for Palo Alto this season. Still, the Vikings gave St. Francis (Sacramento) a tussle.

"We did a nice job of recovery in the second game, but couldn't hold on after that," Winn explained. "I would have expected a match like this at some point during our run of 33 victories in a row, but we had enough determination and fortune to not let it happen during that stretch. On Saturday, we just had too many errors, and against a good team, you can't win when you do that.

"Still, it was a remarkable season, one that will likely never be topped by the stories we'll be able to tell... about a very young squad that did some very experienced things. And, we're continuing to build Paly into a program that expects success and inspires the girls to work really hard in the offseason, to come back the next year and build on the prior year's success. That's what motivates me to continue to be a better coach for them."

Winn will lose only three seniors -- starter Marissa Florant, Cassie Prioleau and team manager Kristen Dauler. He'll return starters Trina Ohms (junior), Megan Coleman (junior) Melanie Wade (sophomore), Maddie Kuppe (sophomore), and Kim Whitson (sophomore) while Caroline Martin (sophomore), Jackie Koenig (sophomore), Ally Kron (sophomore), Ashley Chin (sophomore) and Shelby Knowles (freshman) also return with plenty of experience.

While Palo Alto accomplished quite a bit this season, including the most wins in school history, the 2000 Paly team still owns the distinction of being the only Vikings' squad to reach the NorCal title match. That's something for this current team to shoot for in 2010.

Palo Alto wasn't the only local team that saw its season end on Saturday.

Sacred Heart Prep, seeded No. 4 in Division IV, nearly pulled off its biggest upset of the season before falling to top-seeded Christian Brothers (29-9), 22-25, 23-25, 25-22, 25-18, 15-12 in the semifinals.

The Gators finished the season 23-11 after winning their first CCS title since 1998. Sophomore Sarah Dashbach led SHP with 16 kills and 11 digs while sophomore Jesse Ebner added 10 kills and nine digs. Senior Kira Whitehouse wrapped up her career with nine kills and senior Christine Renschler finished with eight kills and 10 digs. Senior DeAnna Kneis contributed 14 digs while senior Margot Roux had 35 assists.

SHP coach Damien Hardy loses seven seniors, including Chantal Morgan, Kate Kerwin, and Elsie Kruberg, but returns seven players -- including Ebner and Dashbach plus setters Amelia Alvarez and Hanna Elmore, plus juniors Kendall Flesher, Nicole Demienne and Katie Fallon.

Castilleja also saw its season end following a 25-15, 25-21, 25-19 loss to top-seeded Branson (32-5) in a CIF NorCal Division V semifinal on Saturday night at College of Marin. The No. 5-seeded Gators finished the season 18-14. Castilleja also won 18 games last season while capturing the state crown.

The Gators fell short in their serve-receive as Branson's serving proved tough to handle.

Castilleja coach Tracie Meskell said earlier that she would be happy just to make it to the NorCal finals. While that goal wasn't achieved, Meskell loses only seniors Erin McLaughlin and Shelly Steyer and will return 10 players -- five of whom were starters this season.

The returning group includes sophomore Hannah Boland, junior Laura Rose, junior Sophie Koontz, sophomore Lindsay Wang, freshman Hannah Hsieh, junior Abby Thornburg, freshman Lucy Tashman, junior Claire Dreyfus, junior Camille Stroe and sophomore Sarah Shore.

The Gators can put four six-footers on the floor next season -- Boland, Rose, Tashman and Thornburg.

Against Branson, Wang had nine kills to lead the Gators while McLaughlin, who will play at New York University next season, added eight kills. Boland contributed seven with three blocks while Koontz provided 23 assists.

-- Keith Peters