Cancer awareness night for the Ignacio High School volleyball team coincided with a career fair set to take over Bobcat Gymnasium after Tuesday night’s match. Dolores made sure to end the volleyball game in a hurry.
The Bears (15-3, 11-0 2A/1A San Juan Basin League) rolled past the Ignacio Bobcats 3-0 on Tuesday night with set wins of 25-23, 25-12 and 25-19. The Bobcats had trouble keeping up with the heavy hitting of 6-foot-2 star middle Jordan Elder, who was set up beautifully by Kamri Willbanks.
Ignacio (8-8, 4-6 SJBL) sported pink jerseys to mark the cancer awareness night. The Bobcats came out with a spirited effort and led the opening game 11-5 behind big kills for Alexis Pontine. Out of a Dolores timeout at 10-5, Ignacio’s Lexy Young delivered an ace. But the Bears woke up after that and tied the game at 16-16. With Young on serve again, Ignacio went back up 19-16, but Dolores went on a run to go up 20-19. A kill from Makayla Howell of Ignacio retied the match, but mistakes hurt Ignacio down the stretch gave the Bears a 24-21 lead. Ignacio fought off match point twice with a kill from Grace Gonzales and an ace from Marisa Carmenoros, but an Ignacio hitting error ended the set.
Erin Brown of Dolores started the second game with three consecutive serves the Bobcats could not return, as she came alive for the Bears in the second two sets. The Dolores lead grew as large as 24-11, and a kill from Sydney Smith ended it for the Bears.
The Bobcats regrouped and fought to a 6-6 tie early in the third set. Down 11-7, the Bobcats rallied one last time to claim a 16-15 lead that led to a Dolores timeout. The Bears answered the call of coach Gina Hollen and pulled away behind booming kill shots from Elder.
Dolores will close its league season at 11 a.m. Saturday at Telluride before it will go to the Gunnison tournament.
IHS will play a non-league match Thursday at 5 p.m. at Creede before a senior-night match Friday at home against Ridgway.
Pine River Times sports writer Joel Priest contributed to this report.
