Rollercoaster season nears end
By Hector Trujillo
The Scripps Ranch High School womens beach volleyball team concludes what can only be described as a rollercoaster season on Thursday, April 25, at home against Point Loma High. It will be the third meeting between the two sides which includes a 3-2 victory by the Lady Falcons on March 21 that came thanks to a dramatic comeback in the final series of pairings to earn the win.
Scripps Ranch High has four seniors on the varsity team out of 10 returners, with four more players competing in their first season at the varsity level. The team pairings have remained consistent throughout with senior Megan Chow and Riley McDonald, sophomores Elyse Taschner and Kristen White, sophomores Bryce Leatherwood and Bailie Bishop, seniors Lauren Peranginangin and junior Ella Fournier, seniors Kaia Lam and Mihika Patil along with the new additions of Abby Kludt, Sam Morra, Mirayah Kirton and Syona Bishop.
“Bryce (Leatherwood) and Bailie (Bishop) were partners last year,” said head coach Roni Hooper. “They are both very dynamic sophomores and are very exciting to watch play.”
After starting out the season with back to back loses against La Jolla and Cathedral Catholic, Scripps Ranch bounced back with its longest winning streak of the year thanks to resounding performances versus Oceanside, Academy of Our Lady of Peace and Helix High School by a combined scoreline of 14-1. The streak came to an end on March 14 in a nail-biting 2-3 road defeat to University City before recovering their form with a 3-2 victory over Eastlake on March 19 followed by the previously mentioned win versus Point Loma. The Lady Falcons fell once again to La Jolla and Cathedral Catholic in the following two meetings which brought their overall record to .500 at 5-5 and following that up with rematches against AOLP, Point Loma and UCHS.
“I hope that we can go a little deeper into the playoffs after battling our league opponents,” Hooper said. “I’m looking forward to seeing our program continue to grow.”
The Lady Falcons beat Oceanside in the opening round of the playoffs last season before losing to Cathedral Catholic in the following round.