After a successful run in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League playoffs, boys varsity water polo hopes to carry this momentum into CCS.

The team ended its league season with a 7-6 victory over Los Gatos on Oct. 22.

Paly played Los Gatos again in the first game of the SCVAL Finals tournament. Despite past victories, junior Luke Thieman said the team knew the match would be tough.

“We were 2-0 against them, but both games were close, and it is hard to beat a team three times,” Thieman said.

The Vikings ultimately won a 10-8 battle against the Cats, advancing the team to the next round against Homestead.

According to Thieman, the team knew what to expect from Homestead, leading to a 9-3 victory.

“We had prepared for their offense and played our best defensive game of the year,” Thieman said.

This win took the team to the finals against undefeated Los Altos. Although the odds favored Los Altos, Theiman said his team was ready to take them on.

“We approached Los Altos knowing that they had destroyed everyone all season, but we felt like we knew how they played and that we had a chance to upset them,” Thieman said. 

However, Los Altos won the match _-_.

Regardless, sophomore Nick Hoffs said the team views the end of the season and the tournament as successes.

“We’ve been beating a lot of teams that we had trouble with in the past because we fixed what we were doing wrong,” Hoffs said.

For now, the Vikings are looking forward to Division I CCS, where they are seeded third. Paly takes on Menlo-Atherton next Saturday.

“Despite the tough loss against Los Altos, we are going to take it in stride and improve going into CCS,” Thieman said. “We aren’t worried too much about the loss in the league championships because CCS is our ultimate goal.”