Once the beach volleyball season gets started, it’s almost nonstop. The Fountain Hills High School Falcons played four games in their first seven days of competition, and they would have had another game if not for rain.

The Falcons improved to 3-0 with a 5-0 win over Deer Valley on Monday, Feb. 27. Deer Valley went 8-3 last year and Falcons head coach Peter McGloin said his roster made a good team look bad with how they played.

“For us to get that sweep, it was a lot of players being more resilient, being more aggressive, being more purposeful in the way they play,” McGloin said. “Which allowed us to be our better selves and then kind of win handily.”

The Falcons haven’t had much time to practice with their busy schedule, but McGloin has seen growth between the games. He said the girls are more flexible, and they bounce back quicker when they get in ruts. Against Deer Valley in the second pair, juniors Elle Schulze and Sophie Wickland lost the first set 21-13, but then won the next two 21-15, 15-3.

“You keep learning from your experiences, so that actually was the nice benefit of three games in a row,” McGloin said. “They didn’t have to wait a full week and forget the things they were trying to grow and become better at. So, I did see some skill growth and mental growth especially.”

The other four pairs beat Deer Valley in two sets. The ones pair, juniors Sydney Boeshans and Bella Garman, won 21-12, 21-8, and at three, sophomores Kitrick Garman and Jocelyn Bloedel won 21-14, 21-10.

Juniors Bree March and Savannah Peterson won 21-19, 21-8 at four. According to McGloin, they built up a lead but Deer Valley started to come back in the second set. After the Skyhawks made it 14-8 in the second set, March and Peterson won seven points in a row to win.

Senior Liv Sopeland and sophomore Lucia Kalmbach outlasted their opponents 21-18, 21-19. The Falcons had challenge matches in their practice last Thursday, and there were shakeups all around before they faced Gilbert Christian.

The Falcons took their first loss of the season against Gilbert Christian on Friday, March 3. McGloin wants to make sure his players don’t take any steps backward after the first blow to their confidence, so he held a team meeting this past Monday, March 6, to get his players back on the same page.

McGloin wants to see his players play in games the way they do in practice, because he’s seen them do what he expects there. Good teams like Gilbert Christian, which went 11-4 last season, push the Falcons and he hopes they will be able to handle pressure later in the season because of this early match.

Kitrick and Bloedel won their match at three in a tiebreaker. They won 21-14, 15-21, 15-10, and they weren’t the only close match. At two, Bella and Boeshans almost pushed their games to extra points, but lost 21-19, 21-19.

“They really battled and when the game was on the line, they played to win,” McGloin said. “That’s the way I want all pairs to play.”

Schulze and Wickland lost 21-12, 21-17 at one, and Sopeland and Kalmbach lost 21-15, 21-14 at four. March and Peterson lost 21-16, 21-7 at five.

The Falcons have two matches this week to get back on track before spring break. They will practice on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of spring break week, and then they travel to face the state champion runner-up, Flagstaff, on the first Monday after spring break.

“It’s a process of little, small increments,” McGloin said. “You’re not going to fix anything in one day. We have so few practices over the season, we want to put as many good days together as we can. There’s so little time to grow once you get into the midst of the season.”

Outside of the 10 varsity starters, the six freshmen have been soaking up knowledge from former Wyoming volleyball player, KC McMahon. The Fountain Hills alumnus is one of several coaches this year, and a reason why the team is good hands for years to come.

“They are so coachable. There’s so much potential for all six of them,” McGloin said. “We ran our first challenge matches yesterday at practice, so they are competing against each other for different seeds. They looked good. They looked like beach volleyball players already. They are quick on the uptake.”

The Falcons traveled to Veritas Prep this past Monday, March 6, after press time. The Falcons will host North Valley Christian before taking a week off for spring break this upcoming Wednesday, March 8, at 3:30 p.m.