Knowing full well what her team would likely see Saturday, Ignacio head coach Jennifer Seibel was plenty pumped by the fact that not only did her Volleycats prevail on Thursday, but their opponent – Norwood – pressured them to perform.
“They were similar to us, in my opinion,” she said. “They were scrappy … getting a hand on almost everything, so it pushed our girls to be patient and to pass. They’re a good team; came in pretty strong and served tough too.”
Ignacio won 3-0, 25-22, 25-19, 25-20, to improve to 6-4 overall; 4-1 2A/1A San Juan Basin League. Norwood fell to 3-8 overall and 1-2 in the 2A/1A SJBL.
Able to survive the unheralded Mavericks’ initial charges during a back-and-forth opening set on an unusually early Senior/Parent Appreciation Night inside IHS Gymnasium, the ’Cats gained the upper hand when, after a netted attack by senior Ollyvia Howe, sophomore Maliyah Martinez stuffed NHS senior Kendra McCluer at the strings and sewed up a 25-22 win.
Howe, however, struck early in the second set as she terminated sophomore Kelly Sirios’ setup to give Ignacio a 9-8 advantage. Sophomore Lainee Bradley followed with a kill, Martinez an ace, and junior Juliann Avila downed a cross-court spike – pressing Norwood skipper Ramona Rummel into using a needed timeout.
Her team responded, but only briefly; a successful tip shot by junior Darcy Bray brought NHS back to 13-11, before the ’Cats started separating via kills by Howe and senior Marissa Olguin. Sirios later sent over an unplayable serve increasing the lead to 18-11, and NHS senior Amber Bockrath then gifted the home team another point by hitting long.
Ignacio’s lead would max out at 21-12 when Martinez mashed down a Sirios set, and Rummel elected to spend her second allotted timeout. Again, the Mavs seemed to find new life, approaching as close as 22-17 before Sirios dumped a set into an empty center to polish off a 25-19 win.
With momentum on their side, the ’Cats began the third set with an 11-5 advantage after Bray netted an attempted roll. Rummel used a timeout, but the visitors would still trail 14-8 before beginning a last-gasp rally bringing them as close as 21-18 when Bray actually managed to down a ball neither sophomore libero Tarah Baker nor sophomore defensive specialist Lily Quintana could dig up.
“We’ve got a great back row – great defense, lots of energy and hustle,” Seibel said of her ball magnets, who surrendered little to Bray, McCluer or senior Grace Harris. “And lots of passion; in practice they use each other to get each other better.”
Olguin ripped a cross-court kill rebuilding IHS’ lead to 23-18, and though Rummel tried reigniting her squad one last time in a timeout, there was little hope once the ’Cats reached match point, 24-20, and zero after Sirios closed up shop with a perfect ace into the Mavs’ middle.
“We finally have a full, operating team,” said Seibel. “We have all our players back. I believe this was our second match running at full speed … this was a good one for us.”
The next one, a road match at Dove Creek, will magnify both strengths and weaknesses. Under new head coach Erin Barry, DCHS is 8-1 overall.
