Fallon celebrates after beating Fernley for the first time since 2021 and second time since 2019 on Thursday.
Photo by Thomas Ranson.
The Wave volleyball team completed a rare sweep of the 3A East teams during the first half of the league season.
Fallon knocked off Dayton and Fernley last week to finish 5-0 against the division as Lowry comes to the valley Friday.
Fallon defeated Lowry in five last month to open the conference season with the team’s lone loss coming to South Tahoe (3A West) in four games. Fallon leads the 3A East by one game over Elko and two games over Spring Creek, while Truckee also went undefeated in the 3A West. Both Truckee and Fallon will not play during the regular season, but Fallon will host the two Elko County schools to end the regular season.
The top-four teams from each side advance to the playoffs with the first round being hosted at the top seeds over Nevada Day weekend before the regional tournament moves to Truckee in November. The 3A state tournament is in the northern region this year.
In Thursday’s 25-23, 26-24, 23-25 and 25-23 win over Fernley, Fallon battled back from large deficits in each of the first two games.
The senior duo of Kiley Wallace and Reece Hutchings powered Fallon at the net with Wallace posting a match-high 13 kills and 0.464 hitting average. Hutchings, whose cross-court kill ended the match, finished with 12 kills while junior Halle Johnson had seven. Fallon converted 31 percent of its attacks while Fernley finished with a 0.181 average.
Wallace’s team-high 25 digs gave her a double-double as Johnson added 17 and junior setting Vernita Fillmore had 12. Wallace and Johnson helped defend at the net with the senior middle hitter totaling a team-high eight blocks, including three solos, while Johnson had five. Senior Kaitlynn Hoffman, who led the team in aces with two, finished with three blocks and Hutchings had two.
Fillmore and Johnson evenly split the setter position with each posting 19 assists as the Lady Wave dished out 14 more assists than their cross-valley rival.
Fallon began the week dethroning the defending regional champion, Dayton, 26-15, 28-26, 18-25 and 25-13, on Tuesday.
Hutchings led the team with 12 kills, senior Keliah Brady added nine and Wallace had seven. Fallon tallied 14 aces against the Dust Devils with Johnson leading the team with five followed by Wallace with three and Hutchings and junior Raygen Bartel each with a pair.
Three players recorded in double digits in digs with Fillmore leading with 17 followed by Hutchings and Wallace each with 10, and Johnson and senior Bailey Stritenberger each with nine. Hutchings and Fillmore, who dished out 15 assists, finished with a double-double. Johnson led the team in assists with 17.
GIRLS GOLF
The girls golf team finished seventh out of eighth teams in a pair of tournaments last week in Winnemucca and Fernley.
Fallon tallied a team score of 497 strokes in Winnemucca on Monday and followed with a 482 the next day in Fernley. Wooster won the Lowry tournament with a 424 while the host, Fernley, won its tournament with a 401. It was the Vaqueros’ first tournament win of the season as Wooster and South Tahoe have each won two tournaments.
Fallon will compete at the Lake Tahoe Golf Course on Monday followed by the Tahoe Donner Golf Course in Truckee on Tuesday.
To qualify for state, the top three teams and top seven golfers from non-qualifying teams will advance. Going into the final week of play, South Tahoe and Wooster are tied for first in the Northern 3A with a score of 35 points followed by Fernley in third at 30 points. Fallon is in sixth with 11.5 points.
Individually, Fallon has a chance to send two golfers to state. Charissa Chenoweth leads the team with an average of 106.2 strokes and Hannah Benjamin is at 108 for the seventh and final spot. The next-best score is 110.2.
The state tournament is Oct. 17-18 in the south.
In the Lowry tournament, Chenoweth led the team with a score of 103 followed by Benjamin at 107. Rylie Guerrero carded a 132 followed by Bailey Prinz at 155. The top score was Wooster’s Rya Montoya (75).
In the Fernley tournament, Benjamin led the team with a 103 while Chenoweth had a 112 followed by Jessica Lewis at 132. Guerrero finished with a 135 and Prinz carded a 156. The top score went to Montoya with an 83.
TENNIS
Both the boys and girls tennis teams qualified for the 3A Northern League team tournament, which starts on Monday.
The girls finished 4-4 to pick up the No. 5 seed. Fallon will travel to No. 4 Wooster (5-3) on Tuesday for a 3 p.m. dual. The winner faces No. 1 Truckee (8-0) on Thursday. The championship is Oct. 13.
Fallon’s boys finished 3-5 to get the No. 6 seed and will travel to No. 3 Hug (5-3) for a 3 p.m. Tuesday match. The winner faces No. 2 Truckee (7-1) on Wednesday at 3 p.m. in Truckee. The championship is Oct. 13.
The singles and doubles tournament runs from Oct. 20-21.
CROSS COUNTRY
In Saturday’s Truckee Cross Country Invitational at the Ponderosa Golf Course, freshman Jackson Barbee led the Greenwave in the boys varsity division with a time of 20 minutes, 43 seconds followed by freshman Leojro Chavez in 20:45.
Freshman Takoda Pacheco finished the race in 22:08, followed by freshman Alexander Sorensen in 22:59 and sophomore William McNeill in 26:19.
The top time came from Incline’s Noah McMahan (16:03).
For the girls, freshman Abigail Lacow finished the JV race in 28:41.
The top time came from Pleasant Grove’s Addison Shaw (22:03).