It was another tough week for the Lady Falcons, but volleyball head coach Pete McGloin feels that it provided another tough lesson that, if learned, will help the Falcons in the future.

The Fountain Hills High School volleyball squad played two matches last week. The first match was on Oct. 13 against AZ College Prep. FHHS lost the match in five sets; 25-15, 25-13, 22-25, 24-26 and 12-15.

The second match was two days later, Oct. 15, a rematch against Valley Christian. The Lady Falcons lost this match in three sets; 25-27, 15-25, 16-25.

The Falcons have a packed week with four games on their schedule. The first match was Tuesday, Oct. 20, against Northwest Christian.

The team’s second game is tonight, Oct. 21, away at Payson starting at 6 p.m.

On Oct. 22, the Lady Falcons are playing a double-header at home against Camp Verde. The first match is at 4:30 p.m. and the second is at 7 p.m.

The Lady Falcons’ first loss this past week was a tough one and is an experience that McGloin hopes will stick with his players.

“Tuesday was a horrible, brutal loss, but those are experiences that stick with you and experiences that I talk about being learning experiences that can help take your team to the next level, if you do learn from them,” McGloin said. “Or you’re doomed to make the same mistakes over and over again.”

The Falcons initially started off the game well, but it seems they became complacent after their strong opening.

“We came out in the first two sets playing some beautiful, aggressive volleyball; playing together, playing like a team,” McGloin said. “It’s all about maintaining that same type of effort and focus, but set three we came out feeling too good about ourselves and you can’t compete and have that type of attitude. When you lose the edge its really hard to get it back.”

The Falcons went on to lose the final three sets of the match.

After Tuesday’s loss the Lady Falcons gathered on Wednesday for a strong practice and headed into their rematch against Northwest Christian feeling good.

“Thursday’s game was the first game, I wouldn’t say we brought it all together, but we played with the passion and intensity of what I feel Falcon Volleyball is [all about],” McGloin said. “We were able to be resilient and bounce back for the most part.”

While the week still ended with two losses for Fountain Hills, McGloin is still happy with where his team is headed.

“By the end of the week, despite having lost both games, I was so proud of the team and so happy because it felt like we had grown so much,” McGloin said.