Pedro placed on Valley League first team

Joe Naiman

Village News Reporter

The Valley League boys volleyball coaches placed Fallbrook High School senior Manava Pedro on the all-league first team, and seven of Fallbrook's players received all-league recognition.

Rodrigo Lopez was a Valley League second team selection. Honorable mention accolades were given to Jacob Avila, Lucio Leal, Emiliano Lopez, Carlo Valenzuela, and Josh Robertson.

"That's good considering we finished fourth in the league," Fallbrook coach Chip Patterson said of having seven all-league players.

The Warriors were 4-6 in Valley League matches. Escondido won the league championship with a 9-1 record; Mission Vista finished 8-2 for second, and Oceanside had the third-place mark of 7-3. Valley Center was 2-8 and finished fifth while San Pasqual lost all 10 league matches.

Pedro was primarily an outside hitter who also played setter. "He did an outstanding job," Patterson said.

The coronavirus outbreak ended the 2020 season prior to league play, so there were no all-league teams during Pedro's freshman year in which he was on the Warriors' varsity team. He was primarily a setter and played outside hitter at times both in 2021 and in 2022, and he was on the all-league first team for both of those years.

"We tried him at outside because he can play outside, but he's a true setter," Patterson said.

"As an outside hitter, he did extremely well," Patterson said. "He surprised a lot of people. His kill percentage was way up there."

Pedro and Leal were the two team captains this year.

Rodrigo Lopez was also a senior. He played outside hitter for the Warriors.

"Rod impressed me this year," Patterson said. "If it wasn't Manava, it was him carrying the team."

The 2022 Valley League coaches also placed Lopez on the all-league second team.

Avila, Leal, and Emiliano Lopez were also seniors. Avila was a setter; Leal played the right side hitter position, and Lopez was a middle blocker. Leal received all-league honorable mention recognition last year.

Those five seniors were the only 12th-graders on the Fallbrook team. Valenzuela, who played as a middle blocker, was a sophomore. Robertson, who was an outside hitter, received all-league recognition as a freshman.

"We will continue to move on to next year's program," Patterson said. "I think we should do a lot better."

Fallbrook's overall 2023 record was 14-17.