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Following Menlo-Atherton’s latest Central Coast Section girls volleyball upset, the team wandered over to the cheering section to thank them for their support.
That’s when a flash mob event broke out and the team was suddenly dancing around with upwards of 30 M-A football players (there might have been a parent, grandfather or administrator in there too) who made the drive to Los Altos on Friday night, and chanting the popular “I believe we will win,” mantra.
Menlo-Atherton took down its third consecutive Santa Clara Valley Athletic League team, beating Los Altos 25-22, 25-21, 21-25, 25-20 Thursday to reach the Division I finals.
“We’re excited to be in Division I,” Menlo-Atherton senior middle blocker Bridget Gray said. “It’s been good for us.”
The seventh-seeded Bears (18-17), who finished 8-6 in the Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division, have gone on the road to beat No. 10 Fremont, No. 2 Palo Alto and No. 3 Los Altos.
Menlo-Atherton meets another surprise team in No. 4 Monta Vista at 3 p.m. Saturday at Gunn. Monta Vista upset its English translation, No. 1 seed Mountain View, 21-25, 25-21, 25-23, 25-15 on Thursday.
Monta Vista (14-11) lost twice each to the top four teams in the SCVAL De Anza Division during the regular season.
Menlo-Atherton shares six common opponents with the Matadors and though M-A is 7-3 and Monta Vista is 3-6, it’s hard to determine which team has the advantage.
“I think the teams are equal,” M-A senior setter Rebecca Sandoval said. “I think a lot of our energy came from the fans who were here.”
Friday should be interesting, with both football and volleyball teams preparing for weekend games.
“We’ll see them at school and it’s ‘Great game!’ They will continue to keep us hyped up,” Sandoval said.
Gray recorded back-to-back kills late in the fourth set that put M-A on the brink of victory.
“I didn’t want it to go to a fifth set,” she said. “We didn’t need it to go any longer than it had to.”
Gray added the team will remain focused and work hard in practice.
“It feels like a family,” she said. “We see each other every day for at least two hours. We need to stay confident and bring this same energy.”
Every set was hotly-contested. The first set featured nine lead changes and was tied on 13 other occasions, the last at 21-21.
Los Altos (23-14) was up 21-19 following a double block from Carolyn Dormady and Emma Symon. Gray put away a shot that sparked a five-point run that featured a pair of Eliza Boyle aces, a Christina Kerr kill and a monster double block from Gray and Summer Prescott.
After Symon dented the court with a kill, Gray finished with her own kill to give M-A the early momentum.
The Bears never trailed in set two but the Eagles weren’t making it easy. Los Altos fell behind 8-3 and eventually tied it at 12-12. Aria Sokol put the Bears at match point and a hitting error gave the set to M-A.
The third set was tied at 12-all when Los Altos junior Kaitlyn Lee recorded an ace that sparked a run that gave the Eagles a 19-12 edge en route to the win.
Lee had to take herself out of the match after hitting the court hard going for a dig. She returned for her ace.
Symon, who was unstoppable when she got on top of the ball, slammed home the set-clinching kill.
M-A built a 13-6 advantage in the fourth set but Los Altos refused to go away, fighting back to within 18-17 following a kill and then a block from Clara Graef.
Both liberos — M-A’s Clara Cronin and Los Altos’ Shannon McCabe played exceptionally well keeping balls alive and passing it forward.
In a Division V match, top-seeded Castilleja (26-4) swept University Prep 25-17, 25-15, 25-13 to reach Saturday’s 3 p.m. title match at Palo Alto against Summit Shasta.
Castilleja opened its season with a four-set road win over Summit Shasta.
