The past week has been a test of endurance for the Lady Falcons who competed in 10 volleyball matches.

The volleyball squad’s first match of the week was on Sept. 10 against Wickenburg. Fountain Hills won the match 3-0.

The next match was a day later, Sept. 11, against Gilbert Christian where the Lady Falcons battled to pull off a 3-1 victory.

The last regular match of the week was on Sept. 12 against Horizon Honors. This time FHHS fell to their opponent, 3-1.

Finally, the Falcons’ busy week finished with the White Tank Invitational where the team played teams from higher divisions like St. Mary’s, Valley Vista and Willow Canyon. The Lady Falcons pulled off several wins to earn the respect of their opponents from bigger schools.

This week will be less hectic for Fountain Hills volleyball with only two matches set. The first was Tuesday, Sept. 17, against Valley Christian. The second showdown is Thursday, Sept. 19, against Northwest Christian. The match will be home at FHHS and begins at 6 p.m.

Head coach Tia Kannapel is the first to admit that so much volleyball in one week is rough but she is happy with how her team handled the stress.

“I think the girls actually showed a lot of drive this week because it is really hard to stay focused for that long and to not let physical tiredness affect their mental strength,” Kannapel said. “It is a lot to ask of any team so I am really proud of how they stayed in it.”

Of all the games this past week Kannapel said she was really happy with the performance she saw in the Gilbert Christian game.

“It was a really good win for us, the girls worked really hard,” Kannapel said. “Grace Abrams is still killing it. She played quite a few sets that match. Also, we played a really good defensive game and made the other team work and work until it just wore them down.”

But counteracting a great battle like the match against Gilbert Christian was this week’s Horizon Honors loss, where it seemed like nothing could go right.

“Horizon Honors was a little frustrating because we have beaten them before,” Kannapel said. “It was just a game where nothing was clicking. All the girls were a little lost and we just couldn’t get the momentum going.”

A loss is always frustrating but Kannapel said she wants to make sure that her team looks past that frustration to see what lessons there are to learn.

“I told them, you guys are going to have way more games like this,” Kannapel said. “Games where everything is going wrong and you can’t get it going. So when it happens again what can we do differently so that we can still pull out a win?”

After the off performance at Thursday’s match Kannapel was thrilled with the team’s performance at the White Tank Invitational.

“We were up against schools with 3,000, 4,000 students, so there was some talent there,” Kannapel said. “The girls held their own though. I mean, every single team was asking ‘who are you? Where are you from?’ We were undersized and we were going up and competing with really good teams. I think it was just a good chance for the kids to see they can compete at a really high level.”