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FHHS volleyball hang tough through season's grind

Posted 10/4/22

The Fountain Hills High School volleyball team (11-10) lost two games last week against higher ranked teams. The Falcons fell 0-3 to both Scottsdale Christian Academy and Northwest Christian, but …

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FHHS volleyball hang tough through season's grind

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The Fountain Hills High School volleyball team (11-10) lost two games last week against higher ranked teams. The Falcons fell 0-3 to both Scottsdale Christian Academy and Northwest Christian, but they showed they could keep up with the No. 3 team in the state.

Last Thursday, Sept. 29, the Fountain Hills High School volleyball team went head to head with No. 3 Northwest Christian at home. The Falcons lost the first two sets 25-16, but made the third set more competitive, losing 25-23.

The Falcons made few mental mistakes, only serving five missed serves compared to the Crusaders’ three misses. Head coach Olivia Long said the lack of missed serves is a big improvement from the beginning of the season, but still, the Crusaders edged out and seemed to have every close call go their way.

Luck was not on the Falcons side. They came back from down 0-6 in the third set and made it 21-22 before Northwest called a timeout. The Falcons were on their toes and ready to cap off their comeback, and after the timeout, junior libero Sydney Boeshans got under a serve and hit it high in the sky. Sophomore Zoe Kohoutek moved behind Boeshans for the ball, but it hit the basketball post at the top of the ceiling and changed direction. The balled bounced backwards and no Falcon was there for the ricochet.

The Falcons also lost several points when they tried to block the Crusaders at the net. The Falcons changed schemes from 5-1 to 6-2 to get both Garman sisters setting, and it also caused more movement up front. The outside hitters would move up to the front row for a block before moving back to their outside position, but many of the Falcon’s block attempts went right into the net or bounced just out of bounds.

“We’ve been working on blocking in practice,” Long said. “One of our [tournament] games over the weekend, our block was almost more of a hindrance to us than it was a help, because we were there but we’re blocking it out. When we’re losing points off of something that’s supposed to slow down their offense and create a better scenario for our defense, that’s just a reflection of the work we need to do.”

The Falcons have a trend of starting off slow in games this season. The Falcons didn’t have much help from their student section, as there were only seven students cheering at the beginning of the Northwest Christian game. Instead, they turned to their youngest player for a boost of energy.

“Kitrick [Garman] brought a lot of energy tonight,” Long said. “She stayed consistently positive. She’s a player who’s really good at being able to focus on the next point. She’s got a good mentality, and she brought that out tonight which was good to see.”

The Falcons didn’t let the lack of cheering affect them negatively, but they did play better after the student section was in full force and sang “happy birthday” to junior captain Sophie Wickland before the third set.

“I feel like our focus was good tonight, we were focused on the game, and we wanted to win,” sophomore Kitrick said. “Usually when people aren’t high energy, they’re angry. That’s when you make sporadic decisions that you normally wouldn’t…. Right now, we are trying to find a balance between being energic and being able to focus. We were definitely focusing on the court, but we could have been doing better.”

The Falcons went on a 10-3 run late in the third set to make go from down 12-20 to down 22-23. Junior Bella Garman served three aces during the run, and the Falcons kept points alive longer than they did at the beginning of the game.

“When we get uptight, we don’t move, we don’t go for balls, and we just get angry at ourselves and each other,” Kitrick said. “I feel like loosening up and trying your best on the court is definitely what’s better and helps you win.”

The Falcons dropped the last two points and lost 23-25. Lost in the action, Kohoutek made her first start of the season in the loss against Scottsdale Christian on Tuesday, Sept. 27, and played at home for the first time against Northwest Christian. Kohoutek has been practicing with the Falcons since she transferred into Fountain Hills, and last week was her first real game experience in months.

“She’s good,” Long said. “First week back, not everyone can hold their own, and she did. She’s a consistent player.”

The Falcons hosted Bourgade Catholic this past Monday, Oct. 3, after press time. The Falcons will host Chino Valley today, Wednesday, Oct. 5, at 6 p.m., and then have an eight day break before they host Camp Verde on Thursday, Oct. 13, at 6 p.m.

“This week was a very challenging week for us, next week should be a week where were able to close out games quickly and boost ourselves,” Long said. “It’s going to come down to our ability to make the changes necessary.”