Warriors defeat Jaguars for first league win

A Sept. 27 home match against Valley Center High School gave the Fallbrook High School girls volleyball team the Warriors' first Valley League win of 2018.

Fallbrook's 25-16, 25-17, 22-25, 25-21 victory over the Jaguars gave the Warriors a 1-3 Valley League record along with a 10-9 overall mark which became 12-12 after the Scripps Ranch Tournament later in the week.

"Since we passed very well, we got good hits," said Fallbrook coach Chip Patterson. "We just did not do well in the serve-receive."

The Warriors' league season began Sept. 18 with a 25-18, 18-25, 25-18, 25-20 loss at Escondido. "We made a whole bunch of hitting errors," Patterson said.

Patterson also noted the impact of the Cougars' defense. "We played into that," he said. "We just kept giving them balls to dig."

A Sept. 20 trip to Mission Vista lasted five games. The Grizzlies began with 25-11 and 25-21 triumphs.

"We started off slow," said Patterson. "We played their game."

Fallbrook won game three by a 25-13 score and then won the 26-24 fourth set. That forced a fifth game to decide the match.

"We started off slow again," said Patterson.

Mission Vista held the lead and won by a 15-13 margin.

The Warriors hosted Ramona in a Sept. 25 match and the Bulldogs began with 27-25 and 25-18 victories. The Warriors averted a sweep with a 25-22 game three win, and Ramona concluded the match with a 25-20 triumph in the fourth game.

"We had them," said Patterson. "We should have beat them."

"They were all close," said Ramona coach Connie Halfaker of the four games. "Fallbrook was very aggressive. They just scrambled really well, picked up a lot of balls. Fallbrook did a really good job with their game plan."

Patterson cited Fallbrook mistakes for the Bulldogs' close victory in the first game.

"We let them come back into the game because of our serve-receive," said Patterson.

Valley Center would provide a challenge for Fallbrook's attack.

"They block very well," said Patterson of Valley Center. "They did a good job against us."

Fallbrook's passing contributed to the victory over Valley Center.

"It was good to just get a league win," said Patterson. "That was a good thing."

The Scripps Ranch Tournament was held Sept. 28-29. Fallbrook had Sept. 28 pool play games at Scripps Ranch High School and commenced competition with a 25-20, 11-25, 15-12 win over Francis Parker. "It started out well," Patterson said.

The contest against San Marcos began with a 29-27 Fallbrook victory, but the Knights then captured 25-15 and 15-10 games to win the match. Fallbrook's final pool play match against Mission Hills also saw the Warriors lose in three games after prevailing in the first set; a 25-22 Fallbrook triumph was followed by 25-23 and 15-13 Grizzlies victories.

The 1-2 pool play record placed Fallbrook in the bronze division for the Sept. 29 matches, which in Fallbrook's case took place at Escondido High School. San Dieguito Academy started off Fallbrook's Saturday by defeating the Warriors in a 25-22, 23-25, 15-10 match.

The Warriors evened their overall season record at 12-12 with a three-game win over Montgomery. A 25-17 Fallbrook victory opened play, the Aztecs took the second game by a 25-23 score, and the Warriors prevailed by a 15-13 margin in the third set.

A three-way tie for the berth in bracket play was decided on points. Montgomery had two more points than Fallbrook to give the Aztecs that slot.

Patterson's objective is for the Warriors to play better at the end of the season. "That's the push right now," he said.