The past week was the opening week for Volleyball and Flag Football, with Girls Volleyball opening with close loss in a scrimmage against St. Rita  on Tuesday (on St. Rita’s outside courts, which were not well-liked by most of the volleyball players for St. Philip) and Varsity Flag Football opening against St. Therese with a blowout win on Wednesday. On Friday, Volleyball beat St. Felicitas and Perpetua 2-1 and Flag Football fell to St. Rita 30-14.

Girls Varsity Volleyball began their season with a  close scrimmage loss against St. Rita. The Raiders chose to have the game played at home, on their outside courts, which are not in great shape. While the Falcons lost, they got in some good practice for their official season opener against Saints Felicitas and Perpetua.

St. Philip beat Saints Felicitas and Perpetua two sets to one last Friday at Holy Angel Hall, as St. Philip won the decisive final set to open the regular season with a win. The game does not count in the standings, but was still a good win nonetheless.

Against St. Therese, St. Philip Varsity Flag Football had very little trouble. They received the opening kickoff, drove down the field in three plays, to take a 6-0 lead (with a failed two-point conversion). After St. Therese had their longest drive of the game (about 40 yards on just a few plays), the Falcons defense held, and St. Therese never approached the end zone again.. The final score was 45-0 in favor of the Falcons, even though they rotated all of the starters from their normal positions and gave all players several plays on the field.

Against St. Rita, the Falcons struggled in the first half before mounting a rally that fell short. The Falcons’ defense had trouble stopping short passes that went for big gains, and the offense did not take the ball inside of the St. Rita twenty-yard line in the first half. In the second half, the Falcons rallied back, as the offense scored fourteen with a pair of second half touchdowns (and a two-point conversion), while the defense held the Raiders to six on one touchdown (and no conversion) for St. Rita, but the clock ran out with the Falcons  down by two scores at 14-30.