Ben Wiley is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Betty Fairfax  High School

The Betty Fairfax girls volleyball team threw everything they had at McClintock High School on Thursday, yet the Stampede suffered their second straight three-set loss, 25-10, 25-11, 25-14.

Fairfax kept the opening set relatively close for the first few minutes. However, the floodgates opened when Chargers sophomore Rachel Reddie strung together a series of wicked serves that widened her team’s lead from 8-5 to 17-7. All of Reddie’s serves either went down as an ace or resulted in one of her teammates – most often junior Jordyn Mason – recording a kill. 

Chargers coach Jacob Laikona heaped praise on those two athletes. 

“She [Reddie] is a really well-rounded player,” Laikona said. “She started out as one of my main liberos, played that position for me last season due to some injuries. Mason just came back yesterday as she was out with a dislocated shoulder, so it's good to get her back in there and comfortable swinging.”

Reddie finished the game with nine aces and five kills, while Mason was a force at the net with nine kills.

The Stampede were without senior starting middle blocker Kristina Castaneda, the team's imposing force in the middle, who is likely out for the rest of the season with an ankle injury.

As a result, Fairfax coach Iman Isom had to alter the lineup. Although the younger players struggled to provide the same level of impact as senior Castaneda, freshman Reese Ashley was one exception. According to Isom, she racked up between 15-20 digs in just one set and then seamlessly switched to the outside position.

Additionally, the Stampede’s junior setter Abbey Risenmay, who suffered a concussion earlier this year, hit her head on the ground when diving for a ball. Although she didn’t return to the game, Isom said she is doing well. 

Despite the injuries, Fairfax did not go down quietly. Needing to win to force a fourth set, the Stampede were the better team at the start of the third set. They stormed out to an 11-6 lead, their first time in front since the beginning of the game, before letting the Chargers creep back in and retake the lead to wrap up the sweep. 

Stampede senior libero Sophia Villa expressed pride in her individual play and how her whole team rebounded and improved following their disappointing second set.

“I think the game was a little off in the second set, but we still kept pushing our teammates. In the third set we brought the energy up, cleaned it up,” Villa said. “Even though we still ended up losing, we lost with more happiness and energy.” 

The Fairfax team will go back to the basics to prepare for their next game.

“We will probably work on a lot of fundamentals and active plays as there are too many plays where they second-guess themselves and stop going for it, where they are watching and standing,” Isom said.

Betty Fairfax (3-7, 1-2) will host league-leader North High School (5-8, 5-0) at 6 p.m. on Monday,  and McClintock (10-3, 3-1) will travel to Central High School (4-6, 1-2) at 6 p.m. on Monday.