The Lady Wave varsity volleyball team celebrates after a successful serve.
The Greenwave varsity volleyball team had what were arguably its best two matches of the season last weekend, with dual wins in their home games against Spring Creek and Elko on Friday and Saturday respectively.
Most impressively was that both matches ended in shutouts, since the Lady Wave won the first three sets of each match and left with an early win 3-0 against both teams.
The Wave is currently 10-8 overall and 4-2 in league play. Their matches left Spring Creek at 1-8 overall and 0-5 in the league, and Elko at 3-8 overall and 2-4 in the league. Fallon’s next match will be a home match against Fernley today at 6 p.m.
“I thought the girls did really well on coming out, staying focused and taking care of business,” said Fallon coach Patty Daum. “We were a little bit dirty on the serves, and a little bit dirty on our blocks at the net. But after a timeout the kids got back in and they handled things really clean. I can’t ask for any more than that. They did a really good job.”
After Fallon won against Sparks a week ago, coach Daum said she believed both Spring Creek and Elko would be significant challenges for the Wave since both teams are used to playing on the road and winning.
In league with the dual scores, the Wave’s performance against both teams was surprisingly similar with junior Whitney Skabelund and senior captain Meghan McCormick making an unstoppable kill team at the net.
The duo was instrumental against Spring Creek in the Wave’s net game in particular, saving the few points in the first two sets that would’ve let the Spartans break the multiple ties they found themselves at.
Wave Junior LeAnn Stands played strong in both matches, unafraid to sprint to the corners of the net where her height helped save the Wave against tipping. The score for each set was 25-18, 25-15 and 25-13.
The most noteworthy player for the Wave in their match against Spring Creek was junior Kayla Buckmaster with the highest number of kills and an unforgettable kill in the third set of the match that three Spartans dove for and missed.
“The biggest thing is you try to keep them on the court when you’re playing a team with a huge point difference,” said Daum, since there were many points where the Wave commanded a difference of points as much as 20-9. “When you can keep them on the court, you can handle things. But when they start to drift, they just have to keep their focus, but all in all I thought they did a really nice job.”
Like other coaches in the Churchill County High School athletic department, Daum initially worried that Fallon would struggle to keep their momentum. Daum initially felt that the next game against Elko would be a completely different story than the game against Spring Creek, only to be surprised at a repeat performance by the Lady Wave winning the first three sets and claiming the match early with sets of 25-8, 25-22 and 25-15.
“Elko has a really good program,” Daum said, “and those kids are used to playing and traveling on the road, 95 percent of the time.”
The Wave performed identically against the Indians on Saturday, particularly strong since the girls were able to close blocks at the net as coach Daum had hoped.
Wave junior Stands showed the most improvement among the Wave girls, able to rush both corners of the net and match Elko’s swiftness, shutting out most of the points Fallon would’ve normally lost at the net.
“In volleyball, it’s whoever shows up,” Daum said. “We’ve got to keep showing up.”