The Fountain Hills High School beach volleyball team went 20 days without playing a match due to spring break and two weather cancellations. The No. 11 Falcons (6-2) had more schedule changes last week, and they went 1-1 with a sweep over Mountainside and a 3-2 loss to Northwest Christian.

The Falcons have officially rescheduled two of their missed games for next week. They will travel to No. 5 Saguaro (7-0) on Tuesday, April 11, and they will host No. 19 Payson (5-4) in a doubleheader to end the regular season next Wednesday, April 12.

The Falcons may potentially reschedule their match with Flagstaff for tomorrow, Thursday, April 6. The Eagles have had to postpone the game twice already for weather concerns.

The Falcons beat North Valley Christian 5-0 on March 8, and then they beat No. 39 Mountainside (0-7) last Tuesday, March 28. In between the matches, the Falcons pushed each other in practices and challenged their teammates for positions.

“There were a lot of challenge matches over our break,” sophomore Kitrick Garman said. “When we came to practice, we just had to be really focused because we knew we had been off for a while.”

Head coach Peter McGloin and his coaching staff had some concerns that the players would regress without real games, especially regarding mental fortitude. The Falcons had a tune up game against the winless Wolves, and then they showed more grit against Northwest Christian than they had all season.

The Falcons beat Mountainside without losing a single set. Juniors Bella Garman and Sydney Boeshans won 21-8, 21-13 as the top pair, and sophomores Kitrick Garman and Jocelyn Bloedel won 21-8, 21-6 in the two pair after moving up in challenge matches.

Juniors Elle Schulze and Sophie Wickland won 21-4, 21-9 at three, and sophomore Lucia Kalmbach and senior Liv Sopeland won 21-12, 21-9 in the four pair. Juniors Bree March and Savannah Peterson won 21-6, 21-11 at five.

The Falcons lost a close match to No. 8 Northwest Christian (7-1) on Friday, March 31. Three pairs took their matches to overtime, and six of the total 13 sets were decided by three points or less.

McGloin was much happier with the Falcons’ effort this time than when they lost 4-1 to No. 9 Gilbert Christian (8-2) earlier in the year. The Falcons only took one match to overtime against Gilbert Christian, and they lost their sets by an average of six points.

“There were a lot of opportunities to waive the weight flag, and just shut down and maybe give up on ourselves like we had earlier in the year,” McGloin said. “But there was so much more pride and fight and will to win this time.”

The match started with a shakeup. March and Peterson stepped on the court as the typically do, but Sopeland had a new partner in the four pair. Kalmbach moved up to three and Schulze moved down to four, and McGloin thinks the combinations have potential to help them out in the postseason.

Both the four and five pairs went to overtime. March and Peterson lost 21-12 in the first set, but they gathered themselves and rallied to win 25-23 in the second set. They exchanged blows in the tiebreaker, tying at 6-6, 8-8 and 10-10, before the Crusaders pulled ahead to win 15-11.

Schulze and Sopeland won their first set 21-17, but they couldn’t slow Northwest down once they found momentum. Schulze and Sopeland lost the second set 21-12, and then lost a nail-biting tiebreaker set, 15-13.

The two and three pairs started at the same time, and the Falcons only undefeated pair improved to 7-0. Bloedel and Kitrick Garman finished first, winning 24-22, 21-14.

“We were able to really compete and have fun,” Bloedel said. “I think it’s good to keep up the energy. I feel like when we have energy, we’re more focused and we’re able to play better.”

Kalmbach and Wickland lost both their sets by two points in their fist time pair together. They lost 21-19, 23-21 and the Falcons knew their loss meant they lost the overall match.

Bella Garman and Boeshans did not have the best first set, losing 21-9, but they bounced back in a huge way. The top pair fought back to win the second set 21-18, and they also won the tiebreaker 15-12.

McGloin said the top pair played with the same aggressiveness and resilience as they do in practice, and the goal is for all his players to reach that point. Despite the loss, McGloin was happy with the growth he saw in all his players and the determination they showed on the sand.

The Falcons had a lot of extra practice time in the last two weeks, but they only have five more games left.

The Falcons host No. 3 Arcadia today, Wednesday, April 5, and they will see a former assistant coach on the opposing side. They travel to Odyssey Institute on Monday, April 11, and then have their make up matches with Saguaro and Payson next Tuesday and Wednesday, April 11-12.

“We can get all those wins, we just need to be ourselves,” McGloin said. “It’s been a lot of work to try to get to that point, so let’s hope we continue to progress and get there. Like I said, Northwest Christian was a huge step in the right direction.”