Galena volleyball beats Fallon

RENO " In battle of first-year coaches, round one belonged to the Grizzlies.

With both teams searching for their first league win, the Galena volleyball team took advantage of errors to sweep Fallon, 25-15, 25-20 and 25-17, Tuesday night.

"We passed much better and we had to work on our ball control," Galena coach Megan Svare said. "We still have some defense to work on."

Galena improved to 1-2 in the Sierra League and travels to South Tahoe on Thursday. Fallon, which is on an eight-match losing streak, dropped to 0-3 in league and faces non-league foe McQueen today. The Lady Wave travels to Bishop Manogue on Thursday for a 6 p.m. league matchup.

"Errors. Mentally we were not in the games," Fallon coach Natalie MacDonald said. "When we got down, we got down on ourselves. We need teamwork. Teamwork is huge."

Brooke Kever posted a match-high 10 kills, Emily Aguiar added eight and Bree Crook completed a double-double with 35 assists and 10 digs for the Grizzlies. Danica Vigni recorded 17 digs.

Callie Black led Fallon in kills and Khaliah Brown added four kills. Black also had four block solos and Kenya Brown had three.

With a quarter of the league season over, both coaches agreed on the competitiveness in contrast to the High Desert League. Svare said that the Sierra League is strong, top to bottom.

"There's five teams going for four spots in regionals," Svare said. "Fallon's competitive. Every game, there's going to be something to work on to get to the next step. I like the league because of the competition. I rather see them (the tough teams) throughout the year."

For MacDonald, who coached junior high school, the main focus is teamwork and consistency, which hurt the Lady Wave against the Grizzlies.

Fallon had several leads in the second and third sets, only to see Galena storm back. The Lady Wave led early in the second set, 6-2, and managed to tie it at 13 before Galena ran off four straight points. Fallon could get only within two points before Galena won the set by five points.

Another early lead in the third set quickly vanished.

Ahead 7-6, kills from Brooke Keever and Bree Crook and Fallon hitting errors allowed the Grizzlies to take a five-point lead twice, 14-9 and 15-10. Jesse Fagundes' ace and Whitney Robinson's and Emily Burn's hitting errors trimmed Galena's lead to one point, 15-14. The Grizzlies, though, outscored Fallon 11-3 to close out the match.

Note: Fallon's freshmen team swept Galena, 25-19 and 25-18, while Galena's junior varsity won, 25-18, 24-26 and 15-8.