FARMVILLE – Maybe all the Fuqua School volleyball team needed was a home match. The Falcons, who had yet to win a game, nor play a regular-season contest in Gilmer Gymnasium, picked up its first victory of the season on Tuesday evening with a 3-0 (25-16, 25-15, 25-17) win over Virginia Commonwealth Conference foe Amelia Academy.

A victory had been a long time coming for the Falcons, who seemed to take out a season's worth of frustration on the visiting Patriots.

“We were tired of losing,” said PECHS head coach Lora Smith, whose team returned a healthy number of veteran players from its 2011 squad. “They've worked harder and harder in practice. I could hear them talking more on the court, so I think they're really starting to come together as a team.

“Tonight's result was a big turn-around from those other games. What I liked about it most is that we didn't get lazy. We worked just as hard when it was 20-12 as we did when it was 0-0.”

The Falcons (1-4), who are playing only VCC opponents in 2012, had lost four matches coming into Tuesday's match.

“They worked harder, and we also made some changes in our rotation and line-up,” said Smith, who decided to not play a libero. “But the biggest change is that they're starting to come together. We really hadn't been communicating, and that resulted in some very frustrating floor hits in our previous games. We really eliminated that tonight, except for the very end, but that's to be expected.”

Caroline Bryant led the Falcons with 23 points, five kills and ten aces. Heather Hicks collected 18 points, four aces and 11 kills. Taylor Schmidt had 15 points, three aces and five kills.

The Falcons were scheduled to travel to Blessed Sacrament-Huguenot on Thursday, and will travel to Brunswick Academy on Tuesday, September 25, before returning home to face Kenston Forest on October 4.

“Two more road games,” said Smith. “I'm not sure how the schedule worked out like this, and I don't like it right now, but in October, when we're playing six of our final seven games at home, my tune will change.

“Hopefully, with us breaking through tonight, we can start to make a run and be playing our best volleyball when we get to the conference tournament.”