Great season comes to an end
By Hector Trujillo
A standout 2026 Scripps Ranch High School (SRHS) women’s beach volleyball season came to an end on May 5 at the hands of Point Loma High in the CIF San Diego Section Open Division playoffs.
The fourth-seeded Lady Falcons finished the regular season 15-4, which started off with an impressive 5-0 shutout over Classical Academy on Feb. 24. That was followed by back to back wins against Helix High (3-2) on Feb. 27 and San Dieguito Academy (4-1) on March 3 before dropping a match to Point Loma High (3-2) on March 5.
“Our season was fantastic overall,” said head coach Roni Hooper. “We knew we would have some really strong veteran pairs this year and our top three pairs played fabulous all season long.”
After the loss to Point Loma High in the regular season, the team went on to win its next three games on March 7, all of which came in tournament play, thanks to a 5-0 victory over Patrick Henry High, which was followed by a dramatic 3-2 win against La Jolla High and a 4-1 victory versus Academy of Our Lady of Peace. Scripps Ranch High then fell to Cathedral Catholic High on March 10 before going on its third three-game winning streak with wins against University City High, Eastlake High and La Jolla High, all by the same scoreline of 4-1.
“This year’s team was very similar to last year’s with only two seniors,” Hooper said. “Ninety percent of our team that were playing in top spots have been on varsity for three or four years. We had some very experienced players playing at the top.”
After dropping its second match to Cathedral Catholic High on March 24, SRHS went on to finish the regular season by winning six of its last seven matches with the only loss coming against Point Loma High on April 9. Outside of that match, SRHS dominated the rest of its opponents by winning 22 sets while only dropping eight.
The Falcons also played in the highly competitive Western League this season that saw three out of the four teams in the league compete in the CIF-SDS Open Division.
“It shows how challenging our league is,” Hooper said.
The Lady Falcons were led by the number 1 team of Elyse Taschner and Riley McDonald, number 2 team of Kristen White and Kenna McDonald and number 3 team of Bailie Bishop and Bryce Leatherwood. Taschner also finished with most wins in all of San Diego for 2026.