How sweet it was. The South Whidbey volleyball team overcame a slow start Tuesday to beat Coupeville at home 20-25, 25-19, 27-25, 30-32 and 15-10.

The Falcons are 4-3 in the Cascade Conference and 4-3 overall, in solid fourth place behind King’s, Archbishop Murphy and Cedarcrest.

The coach never gave up hope.

“After losing our first game 20-25, it would have been easy for them to just lay down and give up, but they didn’t,” said Falcon coach Mandy Jones. “We knew that we still had a lot of game left to play, and we needed to step up our intensity.”

After winning the second and third sets, the girls were tired but found the strength needed to ramp up their play, digging deep for that killer attitude Jones seeks to instill.

The fourth game seemed to go on forever.

“We ended up losing 30-32, but in the fifth game, we came out with a vengeance and won 15-10,” Jones said.

With middle setters Cayla Calderwood and Linden Firethorne out with injuries, Jones moved some girls around at the last minute.

“Line-ups and positions are going to change due to the injuries, and the girls need to adapt quickly and work hard to beat the upcoming teams,” Jones said.

“I have the utmost confidence in my team, and know that they will work as hard as possible as a team and as individuals.”

She added that the girls played hard and didn’t give up. “That’s the definition of what a team is all about; they worked together and helped each other out in positions they haven’t played before.”

Nicol Zalewski didn’t feel the team played as well as it could have, at least until the third game.

“Our intensity ramped up as the night went on,” she said.

Katie Holt said her teammates fought hard to win, and somehow got stronger as the night progressed.

“I think we played with more heart than skill,” she said. “But the coach was really happy and promised to buy us all Blizzards. It’s always good to win more games than you lose.”

Lindsey Newman had 14 kills as an outside hitter. Allison Wood had 12 kills as a middle and seven blocks. Holt had 15 blocks and 7 kills. Zalewski and Allissa Couple played outstanding defense with eight digs each, as well as Melanie Murphy and Brittany Wood with six digs each. Kelsey Dorpat had 24 assists and five kills, five blocks and nine digs.

In the stands, more than 60 screaming South Whidbey supporters — officially the Falcon Birds of Prey booster club — kept the joint hopping. Principal Rob Prosch and athletic director John Patton were even spotted cheering on the team.

“Having them up there makes all of us feel good, whatever the scoreboard says,” Zalewski said.

The girls travel to Cedarcrest on Tuesday, then welcome the Sultan Turks to Erickson Gym at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 16.