This past week was a tougher one for the Fountain Hills High School volleyball team, but the local ladies and Head Coach Pete McGloin are keeping their heads high and using the week as a learning experience.

The Lady Falcons’ first game of the week was at home on Sept. 29 against Valley Christian. FHHS lost the match in three sets, 18-25, 17-25 and 17-25.

The team’s second game was on Oct. 1 against Northwest Christian. Again, the Lady Falcons lost the game in three sets, 9-25, 9-25, 11-25.

This week FHHS volleyball has two games in one day at home. The Falcons will host Chino Valley on Oct. 8 for a match at 5 p.m. and another game at 6 p.m.

While a loss is never the preferable outcome, McGloin felt that his team took a lot from the two losses this week.

“It was a rough week as far as results, I suppose, but its also more opportunities to learn,” McGloin said. “I feel like a team learns more in games like that than they do when playing weaker competition.”

In their game against Valley Christian the Lady Falcons struggled mentally.

“These (games) are a true test,” McGloin said. “We played two of the best teams in the division. I feel like with Valley Christian, we were hanging with them most of the time and if it was not for licking our wounds a little bit too much and taking too long to dust ourselves off, things could have been different. So, we’re looking forward to having a rematch with them.”

In their game against Northwest Christian, McGloin said the team did better not letting small mistakes get to them, but they were still too timid in their play.

“Northwest Christian is the best team in 3A and they might be the best team in the state for all sizes,” McGloin said. “Maybe we were a little overmatched as far as experience goes, but I really like how we stuck together in that game. We played with way too much fear, but these are lessons that you have to learn.”

One Falcon that stood out this difficult week was senior Grace Abrams.

“Grace Abrams looked like the same player I see in practice all the time while others were not playing in the moment,” McGloin said. “Grace played her game. She stayed aggressive played hard and led our team with nine kills and a hitting percentage of 438.”

Looking to the future, McGloin is feeling confident that his team will take these lessons to heart.

“After processing these games, this team is recognizing where the weaknesses are and recognizing where we need to start improving. Like I tell them, we’re saying the right things now, we just have to do them. It’s the same journey that every team needs to go on and I think they can make it.”