Lady Falcons’ October Madness

The Lady Falcons volleyball has been on an absolute tear the month of October. Finally managing to click their glaring talent and starpower with their rapidly increasing chemistry to work in utter unison on the court. Figuring themselves out and catching fire at exactly the right time, this final stretch of the month showed an unstoppable machine of a volleyball team.  

This meteoric run commenced when the Falcons completely shut out GMACS on October 6th, defeating the likes of Miami High and Terra in quick succession with both matches being over after two sets. Clinching their spot in the championship game where they beat Hialeah in a demanding two sets as well. 

“This is a young team, and there were sometimes where they were challenged mentally. As we got further into the season and got closer to the playoffs, we were starting to mature and started to play better as a cohesive unit,” said Head Coach Greg Shanower. 

 The narrative linked with this team since the beginning of the season was that they were facing an uphill battle mentally. Losing players who were key to their system, this team of freshly minted underclassmen and remaining seniors would have to readapt essentially on the fly during the season. 

Questions such as if they could capitalize in crunch time, who would assume leadership positions when necessary, and how they would respond to overall adversity were risen. 

Clearly putting an emphasis on addressing these mental mistakes, what was expected to be a slow burn process during the season was eventually flipped.

Coach Shanower identified these issues early and had his hand on the pulse of them; stating “We have been eliminating the mental mistakes and the unforced errors that we were making at the beginning of the year. They are starting to understand that they do not always have to be aggressive to get the point.  That they could just sometimes be smart and rely on their defense whenever they are not in system.”

The mental strength of the team started to rack up, as they played with confidence and a level of execution that led to their flawless performance at GMACs. However, even with bumps in the road this team, the belief internally was that this team was championship material. 

“We went down on a slump, but we are back on that high right now and ready,” stated sophomore Krystyn Membreno prior to Districts.

This team knew they had hit lightening in a bottle, and they were going to ride out that momentum heading into the most intense matchups of their year. 

“The goal is States and that is what it was at the start of the year too,” stated sophomore Mia Gonzalez. 

Though GMACs were an opportunity to showcase themselves against 8 proficient teams in the county, Districts was the true test of the intangibles this team has honed. 

As the atmosphere at G. Holmes Braddock High School on the day of Districts was nuclear, and the exhilaration for the clash between these two top ranked teams was palpable

This season was not perfect. Instead, it was a journey of ups and downs, and the Falcons were aiming to clinch another accolade to add to their storybook season.

Going the distance, Southwest was a formidable opponent, but once again Ferguson was able to pull out one more run in when it mattered and close them out in 4 sets. 

Laying their claim as the best team in the County and the District, the Lady Falcons have developed into powerhouse of a team and with the tenacity this team has shown on this three-week stretch will have them soaring into a State championship.