The 2014 season was a tough run for the high school volleyball team, competing against some stiff competition in order to go 15-16 after three months of play.

A late season shift in leadership also caused some turmoil, as the Falcons’ new coach, Christie Slegers, stepped down during the final weeks of play following an investigation into her credentials.

Through it all, though, the local ladies managed to stick together, going on a 3-5 section run that was, unfortunately, not quite strong enough to send them on to the state tournament.

The season began on a high note with the Falcons managing to topple Wickenburg at home by a final score of 3-1. That was followed by the Falcons’ first tournament of the season, going 3-6 through two days of play.

Back into regular play, the Falcons returned to high form, besting Coolidge 3-1 on the rad.

The first loss of the regular season came three nights later in a big 3-0 loss to the Florence Gophers in front of the hometown crowd.

Play bounced back and forth from that point on, with the local squad swapping wins for losses in order to put together a split final record.

Following back-to-back 3-0 wins over Cortez and Moon Valley, the Falcons’ season finally came to a close at home with a 3-0 loss to the team from Flagstaff.

A lot of rebuilding had to be done during the 2014 season and, with seven seniors hitting the road following graduation, the remaining athletes will need to pull together once again next season as a new squad joins a new coach on the court.

The players

While the team may have fallen a bit shy of its state tournament goals, captains Jalin Yoder and Gabby Mei said that they enjoyed their final run with the Falcon squad.

“I think that overall, through everything that happened this season, our team worked really well together and decided to make the best of the situation and work hard together,” Yoder said.

Mei agreed.

“Our goal was to make it to state and, yeah, it’s disappointing that we didn’t get to go during our senior year, but our team still had a really good season,” she said.

When asked if the girls had a favorite moment from the season, Mei was quick with her answer.

“When we played Coconino at home,” she said.

“We were definitely the underdogs, a lot of people didn’t think we could win. We lost the first game, but then we came back and won the next three, so that was a really big win for us and it was really exciting to do that at home.”

“A lot of people stepped up in that game and we all worked really well together,” Yoder added.

“Everyone did their own part and it worked out really well.”

Joining Yoder and Mei in bidding farewell to the Falcon squad this season are another five seniors, including Amanda Barbagallo, Reagan Chalmers, Kelly Pedersen and the Feyrer-Melk sisters, Madeline and Madison.

This group has been together for four years of volleyball, something their captains said has been a really fun experience.

“Everyone has improved a lot throughout the years, too,” Yoder said.

And that’s praise she and Mei said they would extend to the rest of the underclassman squad.

“Everyone was kind of shocking,” Yoder said. “Everyone has improved since last year.”

“Everyone stepped up and helped us out,” Mei continued.

“We lost a lot of seniors last year, too, so it was a completely new year for us.”

Despite the shuffle, the Falcons managed to make the chemistry work.

“Amanda Barbagallo and Madison Feyrer-Melk did a really good job at libero,” Mei said.

“Kelly Pedersen used to be a middle, but she got moved to outside this year and did a good job,” Yoder continued.

“Madi Blaes played middle, having never played middle before, and was great. That was pretty much everybody, though. We had a lot of people playing new positions.”

Overall, Mei said that the team did a good job staying focused.

“We were like a family this year and really worked well together,” she said.

“That’s what you need to be successful. We all agreed to keep the drama out this year and everybody really respected each other.”

Looking ahead, the 2014 captains said that they wish the best of luck to next year’s returning players.

“Continue to work hard and work together,” Yoder said.

“Even if you’re the underdog, like in our game against Coconino, you can still come out on top if you play as a team.”