The Fountain Hills High School beach volleyball team won twice and improved to 5-1 last week. The Falcons held their second round of challenge matches in between the two games, and there was some shake up at the top of the line up.

Head coach Peter McGloin’s goal is to get his players to play matches like they play in practice. The challenge matches between two Falcon pairs help because they imitate the high stakes of winning and losing by having players move up or down the line up, and the players have to dig deeper into their bag of tricks to defeat their teammates.

“I think it’s more of a competitive game because you’ve been seeing them play for so long, and all of your shots are instantly more predictable to them,” junior Bella Garman said. “A team doesn’t know I’m going to do this every time, but Sophie and Elle know I’m going to do it every time, so you have to push harder and unleash your arsenal.”

Garman and her partner, junior Sydney Boeshans, are 5-1 so far this season. They played at the two pair for two matches before besting juniors Sophie Wickland and Elle Schulze on Tuesday, March 7, and reclaiming the one pair.

The competition between the top four Falcons was fierce. The first set was decided 23-21, and then it went to a third set after Garman and Boeshans lost 17-21. They were losing 3-8 in the tiebreaker, but they turned on the jets and won 15-13.

The Falcons didn’t lose a set in either of their matches against Veritas Prep on Monday, March 6, or North Valley Christian on Wednesday, March 8, last week. North Valley Christian is a new school with only freshmen and sophomores on their roster, but McGloin said the Falcons did what they needed to do to win.

“We controlled the controllables well,” McGloin said. “We were able to play to our potential, and even when the ball was moving slow, we were able to move fast and play with purpose.”

In the fifth pair, juniors Bree March and Savannah Peterson won 21-14, 21-19 on Monday, and 21-0, 21-0 on Wednesday. The pair is 5-1 so far this season, and last year, they combined to play in only seven varsity games.

Senior Liv Sopeland went 2-2 on varsity last year, and she’s already 4-2 paired with sophomore Lucia Kalmbach this year. They beat Veritas Prep 21-7, 22-20 on Monday, and then beat North Valley 21-6, 21-14.

“It takes off a lot of pressure,” Garman said. “We’re confident that our teammates are going to win their games, and then there’s so much less pressure on us. All of our teams this year are very good. Everyone’s very skilled.”

Sophomores Kitrick Garman and Jocelyn Bloedel have played the three pair spot all year and remained perfect this week. They improved to 5-0 with a 21-13, 21-15 win over Veritas Prep, and a 21-7, 21-9 win over North Valley Christian.

Boeshans and Bella Garman played in the two pair on Monday and were back at one for North Valley Christian. They beat Veritas Prep 21-12, 21-13, and won 21-13, 21-5 on Wednesday.

Schulze and Wickland beat Veritas Prep’s top pair 21-14, 21-6, and then they beat the second pair from North Valley 21-4, 21-8.

McGloin said the Falcons put a lot of the things they’ve talked about at practice into action last week. They stayed in the moment out in the sand, and they didn’t let mistakes or freak bounces they couldn’t control weigh them down.

The Falcons are currently on spring break, and the second half of the season will be challenging. On the first day back, Monday, March 20, they will travel to last year’s state champion runner up, Flagstaff (2-1). Between higher elevations and taking a week off, the Falcons will have their hands full.

“We’ve never really embraced being underdogs because we’ve had such success as a program before,” McGloin said. “I’ve always wanted us to get that underdog mentality. I would love for us to do that, with our backs against the wall. Being ok with getting on the verge of recklessness. We got to be so aggressive that we’re getting to that point where we’re really pushing the boundaries.”

Official AIA rankings will be available starting on Thursday, March 23, at noon. The Falcons were 3-2 by spring break last year, and 5-1 at that point this year. They lost 3-2 to Flagstaff last year, but eight of the 10 Falcons who played that match have returned with more resolve and a different mentality this year.

“I think we like to cower behind the fact that teams are going to be good, and then we’re like ‘oh no, we can never win,’” Boeshans said. “Just play them like they’re a regular team, like our own team. You can only do what you can control, so just do what you can.”