The Fountain Hills High School volleyball team celebrated LJ Holland and Olivia Sopeland on Senior Night and played its final home game of the season last Thursday, Oct. 20. The Falcons lost 3-2, but they moved up one spot in state rankings to No. 16.

Outside of the first 16 points against No. 12 Scottsdale Christian Academy, the two teams stayed within three points of each other almost the entire night. The Falcons got up 7-1 in the first set, but the Eagles tied it at 8-8, and then the next 217 points were back and forth all night long.

Tied at 24-24 in the first set, Sopeland made a great heads-up play. Scottsdale’s serve hit the net and barely rolled over, and Sopeland turned around just in time to pop it up for junior Bella Garman to slam down on the other court.

“It’s probably my experience with beach [volleyball],” Sopeland said. “With beach, you’re always having to run through the sand and make crazy ups, so it helped my court awareness. I feel like last beach season really translated well into indoor season this year.”

Junior Sydney Boeshans won the first set with an ace, 27-25. Boeshans finished the night with five aces, and the Falcons had 14 aces to 12 missed serves.

The Falcons only served one ace in the second set and held a four-point lead twice early. Scottsdale overcame the deficit to win 25-22.

“We were point for point,” head coach Olivia Long said. “In the second set, we kind of lulled a little bit, but each time we felt the momentum dropping, they brought it back up. They played so much harder than the first time we saw Scottsdale Christian.”

Bella Garman got the third set started with an ace, but Scottsdale would still get their largest lead in the set. The Eagles led by four at 16-12, and then by six at 21-15, but the Falcons wanted to prove their old habits were gone. They got right back into the game and took it to extra sets.

Boeshans served three aces in the span of four points, and junior Sophie Wickland got another ace to put the Falcons up 26-25. Both teams held the advantage twice in the race to a two-point lead, but Scottsdale edged out Fountain Hills, 31-29. On the final play, sophomore Kitrick Garman tried to catch the Eagles off guard with a push over the net instead of setting it for another Falcon, but her shot went short and into the net.

“She’s a really competitive player and she takes a lot of personal pride in her play,” Long said of Kitrick. “We talk a lot about playing smart and that’s something she does well. Even in that third set, when her mistake cost us the set, it still was a really smart idea. It’s just didn’t work out and that happens sometimes. She was beating herself up on the sidelines and I think she wanted to prove to herself and everyone else that she’s capable. She’s a really dynamic player on our court.”

The Falcons did not want their efforts to be in vain, and they jumped out to a 10-5 lead early in the fourth set. The Eagles tied it at 12-12, and they took a timeout at 20-18. Kitrick served her third ace of the set after that timeout, and the Falcons went on to win 25-22.

The Falcons had gotten their energy back, and they served at the start of the tiebreaker set. Kitrick and sophomore Jocelyn Bloedel won the first point on a block, something the Falcons didn’t win often on Thursday, and Fountain Hills led 3-0 early.

The Eagles were fighting from behind and hit their own ace and then got a point off a Falcon violation to tie it at 8-8. The Falcons could not beat the rising Eagles, and Fountain Hills lost the final set 15-12.

The Falcons played the Eagles three weeks prior to senior night and lost 3-0. The Falcons went 5-1 in non-tournament games between the first and second matches and grew as a team in that time.

“We definitely communicate a lot better, and at the beginning of the season we didn’t know how each other played,” Holland said. “Now we do know, and we play well with each other. We’re kind of in a groove and we know what to expect.”

The Falcons beat No. 36 Wickenburg 3-0 on Tuesday, Oct. 18, and they traveled to No. 3 Northwest Christian this past Monday, Oct. 24, after press time. The Falcons’ final regular season game is tonight, Wednesday, Oct. 26, at No. 41 Bourgade Catholic.

The conference play-in match for playoffs takes place next Tuesday, Nov. 1, and the first round of the state tournament is on Saturday, Nov. 5. The Falcons are in position currently to host their play-in match, but they have to maintain or improve their seeding for that to happen. Seeds 17-24 play on the road in the play-in.

Fountain Hills is two years removed from its last playoff run, and the Falcons have little playoff experience on the roster. Both Sopeland and Holland have spent the last two years mostly on junior varsity and second year coach Olivia Long will be making her post season coaching debut next Tuesday.

“I started playing volleyball my sophomore year and I’d never played before,” Sopeland said. “Just to see myself grow and work hard for that and now be on varsity, which I’ve been working for so much, and last year I got to play a little bit of varsity but seeing that growth and being able to grow with my team has been really cool.”