The South Whidbey volleyball team made a gallant effort Oct. 30, losing to the Bellingham Raiders 25-19, 25-13 and 25-20.

Chelsea Backus had 15 assists and Lindsey Newman seven kills on the night for the Falcons.

Though spirits were low in the second game, things brightened up in the third.

Although she personally didn’t feel it was her best performance of the year, Backus considered the final games showed the team’s “awesome potential. Our energy picked up a lot in the third game,” Backus said.

But senior Courtney Dettrich felt the girls could have done more.

“Our loss was always in our heads,” she said. “We had the moves but not the will to annihilate them. Even with its ups and downs, the games were fun to the end. And we had them on the ropes more than a few times.”

Caitilynn Larmore agreed.

“We should have beaten them,” she said. “Ya’ win some, ya’ lose some. It was our last game and we had a good time out there.”

For Falcon Coach Tim Durbin, it was all about the ability of the girls to transfer the ball smoothly from one to another.

“This game definitely showed our achilles heal — passing,” Durbin said.

“We haven’t passed well all year. We have had our moments, but against good serving teams, we have struggled. We did have some good energy at times, but we got down on ourselves too.

Bellingham played better defense and made less errors than we did, and that pretty much was the ball game,” he said.

In the bleachers, Falcon quarterback Danny Parra — his face painted blue and white — led a cheering section of 25 students helping to keep the crowd motivated to the final dig.

Overall, most players thought the season had some positive aspects.

“I got to know all the girls well,” Dettrich said. “There was no drama, which is rare for teenage girls. We bonded well and I noticed a big increase in the skill levels of the lower classmen.

Larmore added she had a very good season.

“I hoped for more from the team. Maybe if we had prepared a little better,” she said.

And Backus noted how hard the girls worked from the very first day.

“It was a great experience for my senior year, worth every second,” she said.

Jeff VanDerford can be reached at 221-5300 or sports@southwhidbeyrecord.com.