Senior Night victory gives Warriors winning volleyball record

Fallbrook High School’s girls volleyball team ended the first round of Valley League competition with a winning record, and although an October home loss to Mission Vista to open the second round put the Warriors at 3-3 in league play Fallbrook’s Senior Night victory Oct. 28 against Valley Center restored a winning league record for the Warriors.

Fallbrook subsequently defeated Oceanside on the Pirates’ court Oct. 30 to even the Warriors’ overall record at 9-9. Fallbrook’s 5-3 league record after eight games placed third in the Valley League standings behind Ramona’s 8-0 and Mission Vista’s 6-2. The Warriors close out the regular season today at Ramona.

“We want to take one away from them,” said Fallbrook coach Chip Patterson. “We don’t want them to go spotless this year.”

The Warriors opened their season by winning four of their first five games in the Sept. 5-6 San Diego Fall Classic tournament before losing an elimination match against Carlsbad. That was the first of six consecutive losses for Fallbrook, whose Valley League debut Oct. 7 at Mission Vista gave the Warriors a 4-7 record at that point as well as a league figure of 0-1.

The four-game loss at Mission Vista was followed by four-game road wins Oct. 9 at Valley Center and Oct. 14 at Oceanside. Fallbrook’s first home match of the Valley League season was a three-game sweep over Orange Glen on Oct. 16 to give Fallbrook a 3-1 league record at that point while evening the Warriors’ overall season record to 7-7.

The Warriors concluded the first round of league play at home Oct. 21 and were on the losing end of Ramona coach Connie Halfaker’s gamble as well as on the wrong end of the 25-9, 25-5, 25-11 score.

“We were putting in some new pieces of offense. That was going very well,” Halfaker said.

“Ramona was a lot more aggressive,” Patterson said.

Fallbrook and Ramona had not faced each other in girls volleyball since a 2010 Scripps Ranch Tournament match. Halfaker explained that she used the match against Fallbrook to work on a game plan for playing new teams. “That will serve us well down the playoff stretch,” she said.

Had Fallbrook defeated the Bulldogs, the first round of league play would have ended with Fallbrook, Ramona, and Mission Vista sharing the league lead with identical 4-1 records. “Ramona proved to be a tough team,” Patterson said.

Patterson noted that Fallbrook, whose roster has five seniors (not including the injured Kendra Dahlke) and three juniors, is more experienced than the Ramona squad with one senior and two juniors. “The talent level is equal in my opinion,” Patterson said. “Ramona executed.”

The Warriors thus concluded the first round of league competition with a 3-2 record. “I’d like to have some of those games back,” Patterson said.

Patterson believes that mental improvements enabled the team to end a six-match losing streak and win three consecutive matches. “I’m proud of them. They’re coming together,” he said.

“They picked up the communication,” Patterson said. “They have a lot more team cohesion and unity now.”

Patterson has also stressed aggressive play. “We try to teach them we can’t afford to get behind,” he said.

Losing an occasional point due to a risk is preferable to playing not to lose rather than playing to win. “We can’t play safe. We have to play volleyball,” Patterson said.

Patterson considered senior setter and opposite hitter Jessi Fagrell to have been the top player during the first round of league play. “Her set selection was a great set selection,” Patterson said.

Fagrell also led the team in aces and serving points, and Patterson noted that she contributed offense in addition to her setting activity.

“Her kills were what made her stand out,” Patterson said. “For a setter her hitting was outstanding.”

The Oct. 23 loss to Mission Vista was in four games, as was the Senior Night win over Valley Center. The Jaguars were on the winning end of the 25-18 game one score before the Warriors prevailed in 25-23, 25-20 and 25-14 sets.

“They were just pretty much motivated, and they were playing well,” Patterson said.

Senior middle blocker Brooke Bishop had 12 kills against the Jaguars. “That’s always important when the middle is dominating that well. It takes the pressure off the outside hitters and puts pressure on the defensive team,” Patterson said.

Fagrell was the setter against Valley Center. “The setting from Jessi was phenomenal,” Patterson said.

That helped to enhance Bishop’s performance. “We ran a lot of middle plays and she had way more kills,” Patterson said.

Fallbrook’s other seniors who were honored Oct. 28 were Dahlke, Lexi Gibson, Sophia Martin, and Melissa Ruvalcaba.

In the Oct. 30 four-game win at Oceanside, the loss was in the third game. “We kind of changed up the lineups,” Patterson said.

Fallbrook came from behind for the Warriors’ 25-20 victory in the first game. The Pirates had a 12-8 lead before the Warriors evened the score at 14-14. “They played hard,” Patterson said of Oceanside. “It was their Senior Night. Obviously they didn’t want to lose.”

The second game ended with the Warriors on the favorable end of the 25-21 result. Oceanside avoided a sweep with a 25-19 victory in the third game before Fallbrook concluded the match with a 25-16 triumph. “It was a hard-played match,” Patterson said.

Saturday’s playoff selection and seeding meeting will determine the remainder of the Warriors’ on-court activity for the 2014 season.

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