The Paly volleyball team (6-0, 17-3) defeated the Los Altos Eagles (2-4, 13-10) Thursday night in three sets during its Dig Pink charity event. The Lady Vikes remain undefeated in the De Anza League.

During the game, each dig from both teams contributed money to breast cancer research through pledges.  Over 1500 high school and middle school teams are participating in their 2012 seasons.

“It is really special for the sport that we can do something great for humanity,” coach Dave Winn said. “It’s really nice that we focused on doing this, had a great showing and raised a lot of money, but once the whistle blows, we are playing a game.”

The Eagles scored the first two points on communication errors by Paly. Despite this early lead for Los Altos, Paly was able to fight back and tie up the game at 5-5 with the help of outside hitter Shelby Knowles (‘13).

“It really inspired us to get more digs because it was for a good cause. I think that [this] was kind of extra inspiration for everyone to go for everything to get more money [for the cure],” Knowles  said.

However, the team began losing points with out of bounds calls and miscommunication on the court. When the Eagles were leading 9-6, Winn called a timeout.

The Lady Vikes turned things around after a trick play by Knowles, when she faked a set over the net, giving Paly the lead 13-12 in a close battle.

From this point on Paly brushed off its shaky start to win the first set 25-16.

In the first set, Keri Gee (‘14) added five digs to the Dig Pink count.

“I wanted to raise a lot of money for breast cancer and so I just thought I should go for every ball, because every ball I get up raises money,” Gee said.

Throughout the second set, Jade Schoenberger (‘15) came alive with two key blocks.

The Lady Vikes continued to dominate throughout the the second set, leading the Eagles 20-12 when the Los Altos coach called a timeout.

The third set began with a 2-0 lead for the Lady Vikes. However, the Eagles responded quickly, tying up the score at 3-3.

Paly began to pick up its momentum and continued to lead over Los Altos until the score was  14-9.

Two blocks by Schoenberger allowed Paly to lengthen its lead. However, the Eagles did not give up and brought the score to within four points at 19-15.

Nevertheless, Paly triumphed in the third set, winning 25-21 and capturing the match.

“I thought we did really well both serving and passing, which are the two most important things, and we did a really good job just pushing hard through the end and finishing in three sets,” Knowles said.

The Lady Vikes will look to keep their undefeated league record at Los Gatos on Tuesday, Oct. 9.