The girl’s 2022 Varsity volleyball received a new coach this season, Travis Underwood. He began preparing the team with open gym sessions over the summer. This provided the athletes with an opportunity to meet the coach and create an impression of their skill level. Tryouts quickly followed in the first week of school and shortly after, the season was underway.  

   Coach Underwood worked to create a program-wide support system, even having all of the high school teams support future Falcons at a Cresthill volleyball game. The entire girl’s volleyball program also met up at the mall to participate in a scavenger hunt with the girls being divided into groups consisting of players from different teams.

   Underwood placed emphasis throughout the season on respecting and knowing your teammates both on and off of the court. Sydney Brainard, senior, said, “I feel like we all became friends and that helped us play better too.”

   The Varsity team has had dinners every week throughout the season to not only get to know each other, but to facilitate success in games by building trust. Tyler Sanchez, senior, said, “The team dinners were really fun because you were able to become close with the team and just create a lot of memories with them.”

   The Falcons began a winning streak against Ponderosa with their Dig Pink, to support breast cancer awareness. The girls wore pink jerseys and dedicated the game to people in their lives affected by breast cancer.

The Varsity team also won their senior night match against Heritage, a huge upset based on how the teams were ranked in the league. Going into the game, Heritage had a 77% win rate on the season and Ranch had not been as successful overall with a win rate of only 40%. Mia Romano, senior, said, “Our senior night game was for sure the highlight of the season. Not only did we celebrate one of our last home games as seniors, but beat Heritage and really came together as a team.”

   In what could have been their final tournament, the Falcons won enough games in the Ponderosa Tournament to take them to Regionals. After some hard fought games, the volleyball team was unable to qualify for state, falling to both Chatfield and Legacy at the Regional Tournament.  “I really like that the team can have fun regardless of what is going on on the court,” said Brainard.

   At the end of the season, the HR girl’s volleyball team was well-represented in the All Continental League with four second-team athletes; Lauren Markwell, Cameron Lindahl, Amelia Perla, and Lily Markwell. Dani Cranford was a first-team selection, being named “All Continental League First Team Outsider Hitter.”