Five Warrior spikers earn all-league

Fallbrook High School volleyball player Taylor Hughes earned a berth on the Avocado League’s first team, while four other Warriors also garnered all-league honors for the 2007 season.

Antoine Wilson earned a berth on the league’s second team and honorable mention recognition was conferred upon Kyle Chaisson, Erick Sampson, and Al Siaton.

“I think those things fell out the way they should have,” Fallbrook coach Tom Saunders said of the league awards.

The Warriors placed third in the conference standings. Four Fallbrook players, including three starters and both returning all-league players, missed part of the season with injuries.

In 2006 three Warriors earned all-league recognition. “That’s what happens when you are hit by injuries,” Saunders said.

Wilson, a senior middle blocker, missed most of the 2006 season with an injury. Alex Samuelson, who earned first-team honors in 2006, missed much of 2007 with a broken hand and did not receive a position on an all-league team. Sampson was a second-team selection in 2006 but missed the first part of the season with a rolled ankle and injured his thumb after his return from the first injury.

“You need to participate,” Saunders said of his injured players not repeating.

The other all-league selection in 2006 was then-senior Chet Button, who was given second-team honors. Hughes, a current junior, played baseball in 2005 and 2006.

Hughes is an outside hitter. “They put his name up right away,” Saunders said of the league coaches who selected the all-league teams. “He was right up there.”

Hughes led the entire North County Conference, which includes the Palomar League and Valley League as well as the Avocado League, in kill percentage. “Taylor’s certainly deserving of being first-team all-league,” Saunders said. “He pretty much carried our team on his back throughout the season. He was our go-to guy.”

Saunders noted that Wilson showed his impact in the final two weeks of the 2006 season and played to a higher level during the final matches of 2007. “He started ramping up his game,” Saunders said. “He was somebody all the coaches recognized as being a threat.”

Siaton, a senior outside hitter, was injured in an April match and missed the final four weeks of the season. Chaisson, a junior, had expected to be the team’s libero for the season but took over as setter when Sampson was injured. Although Sampson returned as setter after recovering from his ankle injury, his subsequent thumb injury kept him from setting and the senior closed out the season as a libero.

“I think it was nice that the coaches recognized some of these guys,” Saunders said.