The Fountain Hills High School volleyball team improved to 8-4 with two wins last week. The Falcons beat Chino Valley 3-0 on the road, and then they edged out a victory over Payson at home, 3-2.

Ask any student at Fountain Hills High School, and they will say Payson is their biggest rival. On Wednesday, Sept. 14, the student section was loud and lively, and the Falcons football team also came and cheered for their classmates for the first three sets.

Emotions ran high on both sides of the court against Payson. Head coach Olivia Long and senior Olivia Sopeland are both originally from Payson, and Long’s younger sister is on the Longhorns’ freshman team. Long now has a 3-1 record against her alma mater and she hugged her former coach after the game.

“We’re on an upward trend,” Long said. “We’ve got room to grow, as all teams do. We’re relatively young, we’ve got three seniors. Payson had nine seniors tonight. So, relatively young, but we are where we need to be at this point in the season, and at this point in our program.”

The Falcons jumped out ahead of the Longhorns and handily won the first set 25-9. However, the Falcons repeated a mistake they made earlier in the week against Chino Valley and relaxed after a great first set. On Monday, Sept. 12, the Falcons beat Chino Valley 25-9 in the first, and held on to win the next sets 27-25, 26-24.

“We let our energy get down,” junior captain Bella Garman said about Chino Valley. “We thought it would be an easy win, so we kind of put less effort in. There just wasn’t a lot of energy in that game. A big thing is we have to keep our energy up to keep winning and stay up in games.”

The Falcons lost the second set 25-21 and third set 25-17 against Payson but were able to claw themselves back into the game. According to Long, the third set was the hardest on the Falcons, but they came back swinging in the fourth to win 25-17, and the Falcons were ready to close out the game in the tiebreaker set.

“It’s definitely a lot more tiring, but it makes everything more exciting,” sophomore Jocelyn Bloedel said about playing five sets. “We always get in our heads I feel like for at least one set, and we fall low, but we ended up picking up the energy tonight.”

Bloedel made the final play in the Falcons’ 15-11 fifth set victory and sealed the first home win of the year. Bloedel is one of the better hitters on the team and can bring energy to the team on any given night. Bloedel mentioned her relationship with fellow sophomore Kitrick Garman and how the two of them energize each other.

“I think me and Kit, I feel like we boost each other up more than anything,” Bloedel said. “I feel like we’re pretty close and we’ve played for a long time together so we can boost each other up and know what gets each other down.”

Bloedel and Kitrick Garman are the only sophomore starters, but sophomore Zoe Kohoutek will be eligible to play after this week. The Falcons will study their film and continue to work in practice, but Long still has one big question about her roster moving forward.

“The biggest puzzle I try to put together, is do I want Kit or Bella setting,” Long said. “They’re both really strong and they both have different strengths. Right now, Bella’s been my go to. She handles the ball really well. Her hustle is pretty unmatched on the court. She just makes plays, but Kit as a setter does things that Bella can’t do. She’s really good at the net, she can mix it up, she’s got some solid tips in there. Kit as hitter is really good, but Bella as a defender is really good, so I mix them up to see which is the best.”

Junior Elliana Schulze missed the Payson game with a sprained ankle, and her status was unknown for the Falcons’ game at region opponent Camp Verde yesterday, Tuesday, Sept. 20. The Falcons host region opponent Wickenburg tomorrow, Thursday, Sept. 22, at 6 p.m.

The Falcons are nearly halfway through the season and feel confident in their abilities compared to this point in the season last year. The Falcons will play in the Epic Tourneys Volleyball Invite this weekend, Friday, Sept. 23, and Saturday, Sept. 24, but every other game on their schedule is a region matchup and has playoff implications.

“Every game needs to be competitive. Every game has to matter,” Long said. “It doesn’t matter whether we crush them in the first set or we get crushed, you’ve got to keep that same varsity level intensity and energy all the way through.”