Following a 21-2-2 regular season, 5-3 in section, the high school volleyball team’s 2013 season came to a close without a berth in the state tournament.

The girls finished 15th in their division this year and, while that would typically mean a trip to state during any other season, a technicality in this year’s rankings meant that the Falcons’ run through the season came to a close with a 3-1 win over Blue Ridge Oct. 26.

The Falcons began the season with a 3-0 win over Wickenburg on the road, going on to win the majority of their regular games and rank high in several tournaments earlier in the season.

Unfortunately, a weak lower division meant that some finagling needed to be done to the state qualifications this season. Only 14 teams were brought in from the Falcons’ group with the local ladies wrapping things up just one position too low.

This is the second year in a row that the Falcons have been dropped from the state competition due to a technicality which, according to head coach Brennan O’Connor, has been frustrating.

“We finished third in our section this year, and the fourth and fifth place teams are going to state,” he said.

“We’re 15th in the state and, due to that weaker division, we’re getting replaced by a team that’s ranked 25th. We’ve beaten the two teams directly ahead of us in rankings. It’s unfortunate, but hopefully this will serve as motivation for next year.”

O’Connor said that the Falcons’ non-section schedule hurt the team, as the Falcons took on some very tough higher division teams this year while several of their opponents faced much weaker schedules, thus leading to the bizarre rankings.

O’Connor said his girls were “definitely disappointed” in the outcome, as they felt they played well enough to compete in the post-season.

“Despite that, overall, I think the team still had a very good year and I hope the girls consider it a successful season,” O’Connor said.

“We won most of our games, we had some good showings at tournaments and we beat some very strong teams. We did what needed to be done for the most part. I’m happy with how we played this season.”

Several Falcons managed to pull together some pretty impressive season stats, too. Jalin Yoder, for starters, ended the year with 263 kills, averaging 4.5 a set.

“That puts her, I believe, at third in the state,” O’Connor said.

“Anytime you can average four or more kills a set is really good.”

Morgan Difelice had 110 kills this season with 43 aces, putting her in the top 10 in the state for that second category. Yoder had 34 aces with Haley Braun adding 33.

Braun ended the season with 314 digs, averaging 5.5 a set to put her in the running for first or second in the state. Yoder provided 178 this season with Difelice adding 174.

Gabby Mei managed 410 assists this season, averaging 6.8 per set and also finding her way into the top 10 for the state.

“We had a lot of girls do really well for our division,” O’Connor said.

“Those were some really good stats. Again, it was a good season. Any time you can finish in the top 15 is a good run. We were hurt by inconsistency, though. Some games we played at a level that would have let us compete with any team in the state. Every now and again, though, we didn’t do so well. But most of the time we rose to the occasion.”

Serving, on the other hand, proved to be the team’s strong suit. The girls managed to land loads of aces this season, and strong serves managed to keep the other teams from being able to pull off strong attacks on their serve receive.

O’Connor said that the Falcons’ two wins over Payson and their win over Blue Ridge this season were definitely the highlights.

“Especially the win against Payson during homecoming week,” he added.

“The girls really wanted that one and had to come from behind to win it. I think that was definitely a big highlight for the girls this year.”

All told, the Falcons will be losing five seniors to graduation this season, including Haley Braun, Morgan Difelice, Izzy Edwards, Katie Paulsen and McKenna Schultz.

“All of those girls played a lot and really contributed to the success of our season,” O’Connor said.

“They did a great job. Haley Braun was especially successful as a team leader. She was the first person I’d go to when I needed to get the team focused and regrouped.”

With so many starters heading off to graduation, O’Connor said that will leave plenty of room for some underclassmen to come in and show the team what they can do.

“We’re going to need a lot of people to step up next year, as only three starters will be back,” O’Connor said.

“I expect to see a lot of new faces next season, especially taking up those spaces in the back row. Hopefully the girls will play some club and sand volleyball in the off season to improve and get ready for next year.”