PREP VOLLEYBALL: Freshman Falcons fly
Foothill B squad caps season with tourney victory
By KEVIN STOTT
VIEW STAFF WRITER
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Playing volleyball on any level in the Sunrise Region's Southeast Division can be quite a challenge if your high school's name isn't Green Valley, Silverado or Coronado.
But Foothill's freshman girls team made a little history on the Henderson campus last month, winning the first volleyball tournament in the school's history -- girls or boys -- by going a perfect 6-0 to capture the 12th annual Green Valley-Foothill Volleyball Tournament played at both high schools.
The Falcons, who went a near-perfect 19-1 in the regular season rolled over their opponents in the tournament, beating Arbor View, Centennial, Canyon Springs, Bonanza, Sierra Vista and Green Valley en route to the championship.
Because there are no state playoffs on the freshman level, Foothill's victory at the tournament was like winning the Southern Nevada title on the "B" level.
In the tournament semifinals, the Falcons needed just three games to defeat Sierra Vista to create a showdown against the team that gave Foothill its only regular season loss, Green Valley. In that title match, Foothill got back at the Gators and beat them in two games to take the match and with it, the tournament title.
Second-year Foothill coach Krysta Lahr -- who won a state championship as a player in 2001 at Green Valley under Las Vegas prep volleyball icon coach Erin Hill -- was thrilled with the effort her team put forth in winning the school's first tournament.
"They all played to a level far beyond what anyone expected of them," Lahr said. "Jessica Heintz served, I think, seven straight points to bring us from behind to beat Green Valley in one of the games."
Foothill avenged the one loss on the its record against Lahr's alma mater.
"That was great," she said. "To beat the one team that beat us was a sweet little irony."
Along with Heintz, the team includes Roseanne Ritchie, Shelby Wendelsdorf, Shelbie Medrano, Nadia Sandoval, Shaunna Casem, Karis Delaria, Nicole Rinaldi, Ashley Bergstrom, Lindsay Haddock, Raina Rappel, Danika Zamora, Tara Mouilso and Taylor Smith.
Lahr said it took a special group of girls to achieve something no other Falcons volleyball team had.
"It was a hard-working attitude and desire to do anything that was asked of them," she said. "Anything and everything we asked them to do, they did it. They worked their butts off, they put in extra time running, they all had a positive attitudes, they all loved playing with each other, they're all friends. Everything just worked and clicked."
Lahr and assistant coach Alex Funtila employ a unique philosophy to groom Foothill freshmen to play in the city's toughest volleyball division.
"We don't even tell them how they are or who they play," Lahr said. "They're freshmen, they're coming in, they don't know who's good and who's not. So me and my assistant coach don't tell them ... They're like, 'Are they good?' And we're like, 'Go out there and beat them and then tell us.' That's all we say."
Three freshman players who also came out for the team were Chantelle Monga and Megan Lawson, who played for Foothill's junior varsity team, and Jessica Stevenson, who ended up making the varsity squad.
The relationship between the different Falcons girls volleyball teams and their coaches helped Lahr have the freedom she needed to just let her team -- which ended with an impressive 26-2 overall mark, counting preseason games and tournaments -- just go out and play good volleyball.
"It helps a lot that our head (varsity) coaches Dee (Nuanes) and Pat (Hiltz) are so supportive of what me and Alex do," Lahr said. "They pretty much let us run the team without any questions. They let us be and it works. And It helped a lot because I didn't have an assistant last year and this year I had Alex. We worked wonderfully together."
Along with coaches Nuanes and Hiltz, whose varsity squad had an 8-6 record in the division as of press time and was poised to snag the fourth playoff berth in the Southeast Division, Lahr also cited the help from junior varsity coach Brittney Cannavino.
Lahr said her group of freshman are well aware they might be at the start of something great.
"They were so cute, they were sitting around saying, 'If we stay together, think how good we're going to be,' " she said.
