Her serve-receive skill set supremely tested – and often bested – Thursday night, senior libero Lexi Lyons had earned every right to boisterously celebrate her own back-to-back aces late in Mancos’ match at Ignacio.
The Jays as a whole had reason to crank up their enthusiasm, being that they needed just a few points to push the action into at least another set in their sudden bid to upset Class 2A’s No. 9 squad on its home court.
The Volleycats, however, knew they couldn’t let that happen.
Having led Set 3 ever since regaining the upper hand at 10-9, head coach Jennifer Seibel’s team swiftly snuffed out the visitors’ spark with sophomore middle Alleah Neil tipping a shot off the block of MHS senior Destiny Kramer, whose good positioning was defeated by Neil’s timing.
Just like that, IHS’ National Breast Cancer Awareness Month match went into history as a 25-13, 25-15, 25-20 victory – improving Ignacio’s 2A/1A San Juan Basin League to 6-0, and its overall 2025 record to a more-imposing 12-3.
“We knew how they play; we really just had to stick to our guns,” IHS junior Reggi Gustafson said. “I don’t think they showed us anything different … but it’s so fun because playing competitive teams – along with us being so competitive – really shows what we’re made of.”
After the ’Cats began the match with a Gustafson kill, junior Kelly Sirios acing Lyons, Neil blocking junior Bailey Beh, Sirios acing sophomore Aurelia Bueno-Valdez, Sirios acing Lyons again, and Beh tipping a shot into the net, Mancos (7-10 overall; 4-5 SJBL, 0-5 2A SJBL) never pulled even in Set 1. It went final when, after Beh netted at 23-13, Gustafson crushed a Sirios backset for a kill – after Sirios had nearly aced Lyons, of course.
IHS’ wire-to-wire Set 2 win had ended with Beh hitting long after Ignacio senior Alyssa Atencio served firmly, and Set 1 went final when, after Beh netted at 23-13, Gustafson crushed a Sirios backset for a kill – after Sirios had nearly aced Lyons, of course.
MHS wouldn’t lead until an overpowered Sirios serve tied the score at 1-1 in Set 3.
The Jays would actually build off that innocuous morale boost. Helped by a Kramer block on IHS junior Maliyah Martinez and a Beh ace, the Jays would gain a 7-3 lead almost inconceivable earlier in the match. But Ignacio would counter with a 9-2 run and after senior Juliann Avila blocked MHS freshman Tymbri Priestley, Mancos head coach Delaney Wright used a timeout with her side trailing 11-9.
Martinez then aced Lyons, and after IHS junior Lainee Bradley hit long the Jays got no closer than 13-11 before Neil detonated possibly her hardest kill in the contest. Wright elected to use her second timeout after back-to-back errors allowed Ignacio to re-expand the margin to 20-14. But two Avila kills plus one by Bradley, and a netted Mancos pass put the ’Cats on match point, 24-16.
“We want to go to State. That’s the end goal,” Neil said. “So if we continue to really focus on, like, the end of the season and just push, and be consistent in that, I think we can make it.”
After beating Nucla, 3-0, on Saturday, Ignacio will play at Pagosa Springs on Thursday.
First-year head coach Wright and Mancos, meanwhile, will next pause from league play and host 1A Southern Peaks power Sargent on Thursday, then 2A SPL force Sanford on Friday.
