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The Menlo-Atherton, Palo Alto and Sacred Heart prep girls' volleyball teams all held on to first place by one game in their respective leagues following quick victories on Tuesday night.

In the PAL Bay Division, Menlo-Atherton (9-0, 19-7) made quick work of visiting Terra Nova with a 25-20, 25-13, 25-11 triumph. Senior Katelyn Doherty had 12 digs, 11 assists and seven kills for the Bears, who hold a one-game lead over Burlingame.

Junior Pauli King, who continues to recover from an early season shoulder injury, contributed 18 digs and seven kills to the win while Virginia Lane had 13 digs, Ally Ostrow had 13 digs and nine kills and Kaitlin Tavarez finished with five aces and 20 assists.

In the SCVAL De Anza Division, Palo Alto maintained its one-game lead over Los Gatos and Homestead with a 25-11, 25-17, 25-14 victory over host Monta Vista.

Senior co-captain Shelby Knowles had 12 kills and nine digs for the Vikings (8-1, 19-4) while junior Becca Raffel had 15 kills. The Vikings had only eight hitting errors in 98 attempts. Senior co-captain Sophia Bono added 37 assists while junior Keri Gee finished with 18 digs and three aces.

In the West Bay Athletic League (Foothill Division), Sacred Heart Prep maintained its one-game lead over Menlo School with a 25-23, 21-25, 25-22, 25-12 triumph over host Priory.

Ellie Shannon paced the Gators (6-0, 23-4) with 18 kills and four blocks, Payton Smith added 11 kills and six blocks, Helen Gannon provided 24 digs and Cammie Merten finishd with 40 assists.

Marine Hall-Poirier led Priory (2-4, 15-7) with 17 kills and 13 digs while Briana Willhite finished with 11 kills and hit .380. Setter Stephanie Swan contributed 45 assists while libero Michaela Koval was solid in serve-receive passing and added nine digs.

Second-place Menlo School bounced back from a close league loss last week to SHP and beat host Notre Dame-San Jose, 25-22, 25-21, 25-23 in another WBAL match.

"The team was able to work together well tonight and finish three close sets," Menlo coach Atlee Hubbard said.

Outside hitter Emma Thygesen led the Knights (5-1, 16-6) with 12 kills and a .407 hitting percentage. Maddie Huber, a junior, followed with nine kills and five aces. Menlo served and blocked aggressively, finishing with 13 aces and eight blocks.

The Knights next head to Arizona for the prestigious Nike Tournament of Champions this weekend.

Elsewhere in the WBAL Foothill Division, Castilleja continued its resurgence and won its third straight with a 16-25, 23-25, 25-21, 25-19, 15-13 triumph over host Mercy-San Francisco.

Senior Lucy Tashman paced the Gators (2-4, 14-12) with 21 kills and 18 digs while Katya Scocimara added eight kills, Jen DiSanto finished with 32 digs and three aces while Hannah Hsieh contributed 44 assists.

In other matches Tuesday:

Gunn got 19 kills from Lena Latour in a 25-21, 21-25, 25-9, 31-29 loss to visiting Los Altos as the Titans fell to 3-6 in the SCVAL De Anza Division (10-11 overall).

In the WBAL Skyline Division, Pinewood dropped a 25-15, 25-21, 25-9 decision to visiting Harker.

— Palo Alto Online Sports

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