LA JARA – The Centauri High School volleyball team has a new head coach this season, but he is no stranger to the program as Eddie Chacon, a long-time assistant, has been promoted.

Saturday, the Falcons opened the Chacon era with a three-set win over Lamar at the CHS gym.

The scores were 25-23, 25-15 and 25-23.

“We were pretty focused in these last couple of weeks,” Chacon said. “We knew we opened with a tough opponent in Lamar, which is always tough. Last year, we went up there and we came home a little disappointed because we ended up with a loss at their house. So we wanted to make sure we repaid the favor and gave our best effort to get the win here at home.”

The Thunder scored the first point of the first set and opened up a 3-1 lead. Kimbry Wilfong and Joselyn McCarroll both slammed kills to tie the score, but Lamar ran off four straight points to go back in front at 7-3.

The teams exchanged points before the Falcons scored four consecutive points, mostly on Lamar hitting errors. The teams again exchanged points before the Thunder took a 13-11 lead.

After exchanging the next six points, Centauri got two kills from Analynn Dwyer and a block by Kenadie Wilfong to take an 18-16 lead. Lamar, however would come back to deadlock the score at 20-20.

The teams again traded sideouts, but Kenadie Wilfong and Mikasa Gilleland both scored to give the Falcons a 25-23 win.

Lamar again took a 301 lead to open the second set. But this time, the Falcons scored six unanswered points which was led by two service aces by Lauren Gallegos. Centauri continued its momentum to increase its lead to 21-9.

The Thunder attempted a comeback and closed to within 23-15. But Kenadie Wilfong scored an unassisted kill, and a Lamar hitting error gave the Falcons a 25-15 win.

Lamar again took the early lead with the first point of the third set. But this time, Centauri went on a 10-2 run to open a 10-3 lead.

The Thunder scored three straight points, but the Falcons had an 8-1 rally to push their lead to 18-7.

Centauri led 20-10 before Lamar scored 10 unanswered points to tie the score at 20-20. The score was tied at 22-22, but the Falcons got two kills from Kynlei Curtis and one from Dwyer to win the set and match 25-23.

Kenadie Wilfong led the Falcons’ offense with 37 assists. Curtis was the top hitter with 15 kills, followed by Joselyn McCarroll with nine, Gilleland with eight, Dwyer and Kenadie Wilfong both with seven and Kimbry Wilfong with five.

Gallegos led in aces with three, and Aubree Ullery, Gilleland and Kenadie Wilfong each had one.

Centauri (1-0) will host Delta this coming Saturday. The varsity match will begin at approximately 1 p.m.

“They have always been pretty tough too,” Chacon said. “We’re just going to do the things we’ve been doing. It’s nice to get the first match done, because we can now go back as a coaching staff ad really analyze the practice time we’ve been putting in. What we need to get them prepared to get them to the next level so we keep growing and growing and growing. I’m pretty proud of what they did today.”