Two undefeated varsity teams clashed at Menlo-Atherton for the first place position on Oct. 8. One had to win. One had to lose. It all came down to who made the least amount of mistakes, who wanted to win more, and who had the most confidence.

Carlmont lost all three sets to Menlo-Atherton, but not easily. In the third set, both teams had an intensity so high that it resulted in a final score of 30-28.

Rachel Gerber, a Menlo-Atherton varsity player, said, “Both teams were undefeated and fighting hard for first place. We’ve always had a rivalry against Carlmont as they are usually one of the top teams and very competitive.”

Carlmont had won 11 consecutive matches going into this game, the same as Menlo. Both teams knew how important this game was in determining their place at the end of the season.

“We knew this game would be tough. The girls were fired up to play them, and to be able to do it in three gave our girls more confidence,” said Fletcher Anderson, the Menlo-Atherton varsity coach.

Carlmont is looking to improve and learn from this match, and work on their confidence.

Senior Erin Alonso said, “I think we were low on confidence today. However, we did have good moments when we came together.”

Confidence can help a player or hurt them. The confidence of a team can determine the outcome of the match.

“Even though we had energy, we needed it throughout the match. We need to support each other more. We got more points after coming in together than anything else, it made us feel confident and ready for the next play,” said senior Natalie Stainton.

Carlmont will face off for the second time against Menlo-Atherton on Nov. 3.

“We are optimistic about the future. We will come back even stronger the next time we play against Menlo,” said Alonso.