The West Valley volleyball team has played seven five-set matches this season, the latest being a 23-25, 19-25, 25-20, 27-25, 13-15 near-reverse-sweep loss to Hartnell Friday in Sartoga. It can be argued the Vikings, 1-6 in those five-setters, are just a matter of a few points away from being 11-5 rather than 5-11. But that's why they roll out the ball. 

The Vikings (5-11, 0-1 Coast-South) almost came all the way back after spotting the Panthers (7-11, 1-0 Coast-North) two hard-fought sets to start the match. Sophie Ehret hit at a .339 clip and ended up with a match-high 29 kills. Ehret, who is 2nd in the 3C2A in total kills (302) and 3rd in kills-per-set (4.65), was countered by Hartnell's Adalayne Bondo (10), Soniyah King (10) and Joila Williams (11), who all ended up with double-digit kills. West Valley's 25 attack errors, nine service errors and 11 receiving errors didn't help either.

Francesca Zanotti handed out a match-high 52 assists, along with nine digs and four kills. Ashjeet Kaur led WVC with 14 digs, followed by Jennifer Truong with 13 and Rachel Sanchez's 10. Ehret and Lavelua Stepp each had a match-high five blocks, while Anahita Miahnahri led WVC with a trio of aces.

The Vikings travel to crosstown rival San Jose City (3-8, 0-0 CS) Wednesday (10/9). First serve is 6:30pm.