The Fountain Hills High School beach volleyball team sent two teams to the pairs state tournament last week. The Falcons were one of five schools in Division II to send two teams, and the postseason tournament was a great experience for the four girls.

Juniors Bella Garman and Sydney Boeshans went 12-1 as the one team and earned the No. 5 seed. Sophomores Kit Garman and Jocelyn Bloedel went 13-1 together and earned an unranked spot in the tournament.

Neither pair advanced past their first round, but they played close sets. Mental toughness is important in all sports but it because even more crucial in beach volleyball when you are separated from everyone else and play as an individual pair.

“It’s huge in every sport, but the mentality that it takes in beach volleyball is enormous,” head coach Peter McGloin said. “I mean, just two of you out there. You could be served every single ball for an entire game. It’s a game of mistakes and if you let that compound and led to more mistakes…it’s going to be a long day.”

McGloin said the biggest differentiating factor between good teams is how they deal with failure. There’s such a small margin of skill that it comes down to who’s most resilient and who can block out distractions.

Following a loss, especially in the postseason, McGloin emphasizes how the pairs played and what to learn from more than anything else. In order to beat a better team, McGloin said they don’t have to be perfect; they just need to be more aggressive and push out of their comfort zone more.

“You could do everything right, and still lose the point in beach volleyball,” McGloin said. “But if we're praising the process, and we did everything right, then we're not taking little hits, and we're ready to be our same great selves in the next play again.”

According to McGloin, Bella and Boeshans had a rough start to their match. They pulled it together and played better for the rest of the set, and even took the lead at 18-17. The Falcons’ top pair couldn’t hold on to win, and they struggled in the second set too.

“Things kind of spiraled in the wrong direction, and we weren’t able to get back to being those confident players,” McGloin said. “There were glimpses of greatness, and these are those kinds of examples where you want to learn from that and see how you can control this situation.”

Bella and Boeshans lost 21-18, 21-4, to a pair from Northwest Christian, and Kit and Bloedel lost in the first round to a pair from Mohave. The sophomore pair lost 21-18, 21-19 and showed a ton of potential this year.

“I’m really proud of them for their seasons that they had and hope that their experience in the pairs tournament this year will help give them confidence and propel them into the offseason,” McGloin said. “When they're hopefully there again next year, they'll be seasoned vets and ready to make some noise.”

The Falcons only lose Liv Sopeland to graduation this year, and junior Sophie Wickland played in the pairs tournament last year. Half of the Falcon’s starting line up will have high intensity postseason experience from the pairs tournament, and nearly everyone will have team playoff experience. The Falcons will look to build on this year’s success in 2024.