The first match of the Fountain Hills High School beach volleyball season was a dominant victory for the Lady Falcons and a good foot to start the season on, which head coach Peter McGloin hopes will set the tone for the matches ahead.

All five pairs from FHHS were victorious in their matchup against the teams from Arete Prep, who struggled to keep up with a more experienced Falcon roster.

Despite the fact that the closest match on the day was 21-10, the Lady Falcons still pushed themselves to play at the top of their game, McGloin said.

“There were a lot of opportunities where we could have just gone through the motions and still be successful and do the bare minimum, but that is not what we want to do,” McGloin said. “We talk about always pushing ourselves to do the very best that we can.”

The Falcons showed good communication on the sand throughout the opening match, with partners calling every shot out to each other and cheering on their teammates when they were on the sideline.

One adversary the Lady Falcons had to face during the game was the cold weather and slight showers that persisted throughout the afternoon.

“It was cold and that’s another reason to be distracted,” McGloin said. “In beach you have so many other factors that get involved. We are not in a controlled setting like a gym. We’ve got wind, we’ve got sun, we’ve got rain and there is a lot that can come in our way or get in our head and have us make excuses as to why [we] didn’t so well, blah blah blah. But our motto last year was ‘no excuses, just play hard.’”

The next FHHS beach volleyball match is set for 4 p.m. today at Casteel High School.