Beach Volleyball matches only get cancelled for lightning, so the Fountain Hills High School players have played in pouring rain before. Last Monday, March 28, wasn’t the worst weather the Falcons had experienced, but they still lost 4-1 under dark and cloudy skies.

The Falcons hosted No. 2 Mesquite and there was a delay between the first and second matches to let weather conditions clear up. Rain came and went, and the players had to constantly adjust to changing wind directions as well as playing a tough opponent.

Freshman Lucia Kalmbach said playing in the rain felt like doing math on the court, looking for angles and predicting where the wind might carry the ball. Kalmbach and sophomore Emerson Uphoff lost 21-15, 21-15 in the five pair, but they kept each set close.

Uphoff compared the weather to her last match of the previous season. The outcome wasn’t the same, but it helped make last week’s weather more manageable.

“Winds like how they were a couple of minutes ago when we stopped, but we still had to keep playing,” Uphoff said. “The rain was pouring on us, and we still won, but it was a lot.”

Kalmbach is inexperienced as a freshman in bad weather and against top ranked opponents, but she said the match with Mesquite was not an eye-opening experience. She was reminded that she can be her own worst enemy, and it gave her confidence to face other tough opponents in the future.

“It made me want to drive harder and find the open spots in the court,” Kalmbach said. “It made me want to work harder.”

Only senior Amaya Evans and sophomore Sydney Boeshans won their match in the two pair, 24-22, 22-20. Junior Mia Kohoutek and sophomore Sophie Wickland lost 21-14, 21-19 in the top pair, and sophomore Bella Garman and freshman Kitrick Garman lost 21-13, 21-7 at three. The fourth pair with freshman Jocelyn Bloedel and sophomore Eliana Schulze lost in three sets, 26-24, 14-21, 15-10.

Head coach Peter McGloin was on the sidelines for Bloedel and Schulze’s match. The Falcons receive coaching only during timeouts and side changes, and they get most of their coaching after the match is over. After the tiebreaker loss, McGloin was supportive of his Falcons.

“[McGloin] was just saying how we played really well,” Bloedel said. “In his mind, it’s like a win still, because we played so hard. We were trying to get every ball in and just really focused in.”

McGloin also told them they played more mentally tough than usual. Outside of Mesquite’s No. 2 ranking and the weather, Bloedel played on a recovering ankle. She wore a brace but said it wasn’t bothering her in the game.

The weather cleared up, but the Falcons’ schedule didn’t. Last Wednesday, March 30, the Falcons lost 4-1 at No. 8 Notre Dame Prep. Kohoutek and Wickland won 21-13, 22-20, and the Garman sisters took their match to three sets, losing 21-14, 16-21, 15-10.

Evans and Boeshans lost 21-12, 22-20, and Bloedel and Schulze lost 21-14, 21-18. Sophomore Bree March got her first varsity start with Kalmbach in the five pair, but they lost 21-12, 21-17.

The Falcon’s two game slide saw their record slip down to 4-4, but they got it back up above .500 last Thursday, March 31, with a 5-0 win over Seton Catholic Prep. The Falcons also moved up one spot in state rankings from No. 14 to No. 13.

Kohoutek and Wickland won 21-8, 21-14, Evans and Schulze won 18-21, 21-14, 17-15, and the Garman’s won 21-7, 21-9. Bloedel and sophomore Savannah Peterson won 21-8, 21-8, and Uphoff and Kalmbach won 21-16, 21-7.

The Falcons traveled to No. 18 AZ College Prep after press time this past Monday, April 4, and they travel to No. 7 Northwest Christian later today, Wednesday, April 6, at 4 p.m.

This Friday, April 8, the Falcons travel to Payson and play at 4 p.m. The Falcons’ last regular season game is next Monday, April 11, against No. 15 Saguaro at Golden Eagle Park at 4 p.m.

“I’m pretty confident, based on how we just played,” Bloedel said. “[Mesquite] is obviously a really good team, so I think we really pushed through as hard as we could’ve, and I think we’ll do pretty well in our upcoming games.”