SARATOGA -- West Valley beach volleyball returned to one of the premier beach volleyball destinations on the West Coast in stellar fashion, taking the top three sets in a victory over its rival, the College of San Mateo Bulldogs. 

The Vikings (2-6, 1-1 Coast) played a majority of their early part of the season with only four of the prerequisite five pairs but only needed three to take down the Bulldogs (4-8, 0-3 Coast) with a quick turnaround after falling to De Anza earlier that day. 

In the top-pairing matchup, West Valley's Ava Aviles and Claire Egan continued the momentum the duo picked up in the first game. Though they fell to De Anza, the two battled from an early deficit and played the Mountain Lions even the rest of the way in a three-set loss. But against San Mateo, the duo jumped out to a 3-0 advantage and never looked back, using an early run of their own to create some separation. Aviles and Egan took the first set, 21-13. The second set was a reversal of the first, with CSM fighting early in the set before a late Vikings push. At the final switch, West Valley held just a 15-13 advantage, but the Vikings ended up winning, 21-16.

West Valley's second pairing, Emma Long and Sianalai Tautolo, had one of the days' grittiest matchups. The two dropped the first set, with San Mateo dominating 21-12, but Long and Tautolo battled back. It was almost a complete from the first set to the second, as the Viking pair led by one after the first turn, four after the second and had doubled up the Bulldogs by the end of the third. Following the first match of the day, when the Long-Tautolo duo dropped both of its sets, it would have been easy to give up after dropping the first against the Bulldogs. But not only did they even up the score after two sets, the two went on to take the third set in what ended up being a decisive victory for the Vikings.

One of the brightest spots of the day, Anastacia Delatorre and Kyra Bito took a big early lead against the Bulldogs' third pairing in the first set while taking it in dominant fashion, 21-13. While Long and Tautolo had natural chemistry from playing together on the hardwood, Bito and Delatorre have wasted no time learning to play together in the sand. While the second set was a bit more back-and-forth, the 3's pairing scored the last three points following an 18-17 lead on the final turn, winning 21-17.

Though they had a solid stretch in the early match against De Anza, Sydney Scott and Emmy Juarez fell to CSM in the second. Back in the first, the two pushed back from a late deficit to get to extra serves against the Mountain Lions, eventually falling late. To the Bulldogs, they fell 21-18 and 21-16. The 5's duo of Isabella Oraboni and Elise Peacock had an early lead against De Anza's 5's pairing and fought in their first match together as a pair. 

Following their first conference victory, the Vikings now hit the road for the first time in conference play, taking on Hartnell and Monterey Peninsula next Friday.