Warrior spikers reach CIF semifinals

Fallbrook High School’s girls volleyball team reached the CIF Division I semifinals before a November 15 loss to Torrey Pines ended the Warriors’ season.

Fallbrook ended its season with an overall record of 23-8, including a 7-3 Avocado League record which earned a share of the league title. The playoff competition included winning two matches on the road.

Fallbrook earned the sixth seed in the Division I playoffs, which gave them a first-round match against Bonita Vista. Although Fallbrook was seeded higher than Bonita Vista, the Barons had a 10-0 Mesa League record along with a 16-7 overall regular-season record and since league champions are guaranteed at least one home match in the playoffs the Warriors played their November 8 playoff match at Bonita Vista.

Opening the playoffs on the road turned out to be no obstacle for the Warriors. Fallbrook took a 25-14 win in the first game and after a 25-22 loss in the second game the Warriors came back to take the match with 25-17 and 25-13 results in the final two games.

The November 10 match against third-seeded Poway was also on the road since the Titans were the higher-ranked team, but the Warriors proved they could hold their own against such a highly-seeded squad. Fallbrook opened the match by winning a 25-23 game, but the Titans tied the match with a 25-18 victory in game two. Poway took a two-games-to-one lead with a 25-17 win in the third game, but the Warriors forced a fifth game with a 25-22 triumph in game four and then secured a trip to the semifinals with a 15-10 win in the deciding game.

The five-game match saw Fallbrook’s Carli Lloyd total 27 kills and 26 assists. Shelley Morton had 23 assists and Bree Knitter tallied 20 kills.

Second-seeded Torrey Pines hosted the Warriors in the November 15 semifinal match, and the Falcons captured all three games to advance to the CIF finals. The Falcons won their 25th match of the year against seven losses with a 25-17, 25-14, 25-18 victory over Fallbrook.

The Warriors, whose only trip to the CIF finals was in 1996, were somewhat disappointed about the elimination in the semifinals. “I think going in we were optimistic in thinking we could be in the finals,” said Fallbrook coach Galen Tomlinson.

Realistically, however, Tomlinson knew that he had a young team. “We had six sophomores on the team, three of them on the court,” he said.

Fallbrook loses only two seniors from this year’s squad: Knitter and Lizzy MacKenzie. “That should make us pretty strong for the next couple of years, so I kind of like our chances,” Tomlinson said.