Paloma Valley girls volleyball team storms into semifinals

Coach Stephen Kass and the Paloma Valley High School volleyball players are shown after a match earlier this season. Photo courtesy of Stephen Kaas

By Tommie Brown, Staff Writer

Paloma Valley High School's girls volleyball team beat the Aquinas Falcons 3-0 in their CIF Division 5 quarterfinal match Wednesday night. In a quick round of only three sets, the Wildcats outlasted their opponent, 25-20, 25-23, 25-16.

But winning is nothing new for these Wildcats. Undefeated league champions and now 25-6 overall, the girls are now two wins away from a CIF Southern Section title. They play at Viewpoint High in Calabasas in the semifinals Saturday at 6 p.m.

“This has been the season we have waited for, for a long time,” said head coach Stephen Kaas. “The seniors have been successful since their freshman year. They have been building for this. And it isn’t just the seniors. We have a great blend of both young and experienced players working together.”

For the fourth time this season, the Player of the Match Wednesday was Gabby Hollins. With 4 aces, 6 digs and 12 kills, Hollins was one of the focal points of the team’s success this week. She leads the team this season with 295 kills, including a single-game high of 22.

But the team’s standouts don’t end there. Already breaking two of Paloma’s school records in assists, sophomore Oliva Karwin finished with 33 assists in the latest win. Senior Channa Hart, who finished the game with 11 kills, is ending her high school volleyball career with at least nine Player of the Game awards and 411 kills.

In addition, senior Melanie Maclin is now just three blocks away from Paloma’s school record.

“I’m keeping my head focused on winning and playing, but it gets so hard because its only three!” said a giggling Maclin. “Regardless though, I’m still proud of myself. I just found out a few weeks ago that I was even close. A teammate came and told me and I had no idea.”

The melting pot of experience levels has made for great success on the court. In the latest CIF match side by side was senior Kayla Thompson, with 6 digs and 16 serve receptions as libero, and sophomore Gwendolyn Poulsen, with 3 digs and 12 serve receptions.

“This has been my best group of implementing the team aspect with one another,” says Kaas. “No team is perfect, but this group attempts perfection on the team side of things – that’s been our strength.”

“This season was really fun,” said Hollins. “We have 10 seniors, and two really good coaches – Kaas and Kadmis. We have all played together for a long time, so our team’s chemistry is really good.”



Kaas agreed.

“This is the team I have been waiting for," he said. "Even when they don’t believe what I say, they still try to do it. As the cliché goes, great teams are better than great individuals, and this team understood that. We went each match focusing on one member and everyone working together for that person. Each match was someone different we chose to lead us. That’s how we got this far.”

“It’s nerve-wracking,” said Hollins about the short time allowed to prepare for teams in the playoffs. “We don’t know a lot about the other teams or how they play because their schools are so far away from us. But we are excited and we are confident about our team and our season.”