Playing through fall break, the Falcon volleyball squad split a pair of matches last week, losing by a sound margin to Snowflake early on before bouncing back to trounce Cortez.

This week marks the final series of matches in regular play for the Falcons, beginning with Moon Valley this past Tuesday and continuing up in Flagstaff tomorrow, Oct. 24, with a match set for 6 p.m.

The final match of the season will be against Blue Ridge this Saturday, Oct. 26, with the Falcons set to host Blue Ridge out of the home gym at 1 p.m.

If the Falcons manage to make the post-season cutoff, state play will be next Friday and Saturday, Nov. 1-2. According to head coach Brennan O’Connor, the Falcons need to finish strong if they hope to make a run on state.

“We need to finish in the top 14 to go to state and I believe we are ranked 17 right now,” O’Connor said.

“We need to win matches, that’s all there is to it. If we win all three this week, I think we’re a lock for state. If we win two, we should finish at 14 or 15, so it’s going to be really close.”

O’Connor said that the team still struggles with inconsistency from time to time, as evident by this past week’s matches. The Falcons will play at their high level one match, then struggle to make the right connections in the next one.

“Two of our final games are against top-10 teams,” O’Connor said.

“I hope we build on the momentum from Cortez and ride it through the week. Saturday is an especially important game. It’s at home, it’s our seniors night, and it’s against a tough team that we know we can beat. We just have to play to our potential.”

Snowflake

Last week began with a road match against Snowflake Tuesday, Oct. 15. The Falcons fell behind early in each match and were never able to keep up with the host team, losing three straight: 25-15, 25-13, 25-15.

“Snowflake is a really good team. I think they’re ranked number two in the state,” O’Connor said.

“Still, we didn’t play up to our level in that match. If you don’t play your best against a team that’s as good as they are, you don’t give yourself the chance to win. None of these matches were even close.”

All told, Jalin Yoder finished the match with nine kills as teammate Morgan Difelice added four. McKenna Schultz added two, as well as the team’s only ace.

Izzy Edwards and Gabby Mei provided a block apiece with Mei also chipping in 15 assist. Haley Braun put in eight digs with Morgan Difelice adding six.

O’Connor said that a number of factors could have added to the Falcons’ inability to mesh that evening.

“I don’t know if it was that we were on fall break, the elevation or the three-and-a-half-hour bus ride,” O’Connor added.

“Either way, we weren’t playing our best. All of that, plus the fact that Snowflake is a really good team, led to a loss. I just feel we could have played a lot better.”

Cortez

And playing a lot better is exactly what the Falcons did two nights later when they geared up to host Cortez Thursday.

“This game went the other way around,” O’Connor said.

“Everyone got a lot of playing time and we even played some of the girls at different positions, so they could get some different opportunities and try things out.”

O’Connor said this was a good all-around team effort with everyone playing well and contributing to the win.

“There wasn’t just one or two players doing especially well in this game,” O’Connor said.

“Everybody played well. It was a good win.”

The Falcons bested Cortez 25-9 in game one and never looked back. They overpowered their visitors in game two, 25-14, and finished them off in game three, 25-11.

Yoder managed 14 kills this outing with Braun chipping in four and McKenna Schultz adding three.

Yoder also managed six aces while Braun contributed another three. Katie Paulsen had two blocks with Braun adding 10 digs, Yoder managing four and the Feyrer-Melk sisters, Madeline and Madison, combining for another seven. Gabby Mei kept the ball moving with 28 assists.