Napa Valley College alumni from as far back as 1986 through last year dusted off their knee pads to play the Storm’s current volleyball team Friday night.

And won.

It didn’t come quick and it didn’t come easy, but the 14-player alumni team beat the Storm in five games: 29-31, 30-25, 23-30, 30-26, 16-14.

“They all just love it,” Napa Valley head coach Kelly Van Winden said about the alumni. “Having the players come back is big. They get a sense of belonging. They like to see who’s taken their places. It’s nice for them to come back and see a new gym. I think it’s great to come out and see the other girls.”

One standout alum was Kelly Porter who played for Vintage High and Napa Valley College before transferring to Sonoma State. She played for the Storm in 1988 and 1989 and is Justin-Siena’s new varsity volleyball coach this season.

Amanda Norton played and coached volleyball at Napa Valley College and her play hadn’t skipped a beat, giving the alums several key kills.

Raquel Cantilion, who graduated from Vintage in 2000, still plays volleyball and coaches club teams.

She was dominant in the front row and even managed a couple of kills from behind the 10-foot line.

Napa High assistant varsity volleyball coach Stephanie Raymond, who graduated from Napa High in 2001 and then played for the Storm, was the alums’ main setter and notched the most service points on her team.

Van Winden is thrilled to have so many Napa city players come through the Storm’s volleyball program, both currently and in the past.

This year she has three Napa High graduates (Ashleigh Gray, Tiffanie Christensen and Jessica Hill) and two Vintage graduates (Heather O’Neil and Micah Violet).

Van Winden was happy with how her team played Friday night despite the loss.

“If they played like that against Butte, they would have won,” Van Winden said about the Storm’s 3-0 loss last Friday. “They’re figuring out their roles. They hustled. I’m going to have to continue to kick their butts. They’re learning to play my way. Their level has gone up definitely but we have so much to work on.”

All five games were close for the majority of play. Down 8-5 in Game 1, the alumni charged back to go ahead 11-8 after three kills from Norton. Kills from O’Neill and Violet helped the Storm get back on track and retake the lead at 13-12 but the alums weren’t tired yet.

The older squad took back the lead and kept it until Napa Valley tied things up at 29-29. Two service aces from Violet gave the Storm its first win.

A fierce rally took place in the second game with the alums leading 20-15. Cantilion’s hit was stuffed down the Storm’s throat to end the rally and give the alums another point. They never lost their lead — despite a four-point Napa Valley run — to tie the series at 1-1.

Down by six, Napa Valley tied the score at 11-11 and then took the lead at 13-11. The Storm its lead to six at 24-18 after Celeste Spini notched a kill and the alumni started to look tired.

Napa Valley kept it up for six more points to jump ahead of its opponent 2-1.

Game 4 was tight going back and forth until the alumni had a resurgence and tallied four straight points which eventually led to a win.

Napa Valley fell behind early in the night’s final game but managed to tie it at 13 and 14 before two straight errors from Beverly Hanson led to match point. An alumni service ace gave the older ladies the win.