SAN LUIS VALLEY – Given a second bite at the proverbial apple, Alleah Neil chomped down like an alligator.
Denied on her attempted kill shot at match point Thursday night by match-hosting Sargent’s block, Ignacio’s sophomore middle quickly leapt again when the ball went right back to junior Kelly Sirios. With Sirios again quick-setting it to nearly the exact same height, Neil had no problem replicating her arm swing.
But instead of trying to hammer it into the middle of the Farmers’ court, Neil instead angled her shot toward the far sideline – where SHS junior libero Catherine Deacon couldn’t reach it even with a full-extension dive – and secured the visiting Volleycats a thrilling 25-14, 22-25, 23-25, 25-18, 15-12 road victory.
“(Sirios) was telling me what was open, so I just listened to her and we were able to get it,” Neil said afterward. “But (Sargent) was crazy; it was way faster of a game than I’ve ever played. Blocking, I was late to a lot because we haven’t played teams who are as fast as this. But I know it’s not going to get any easier at all in postseason, so it’s really good to play teams like this; it’ll help us all get better.”
Still the only team this fall to beat resurrected 2A power Dolores (22-1 overall; 11-1 2A/1A San Juan Basin), and just the second to stop Sargent (18-2 overall, 6-0 1A Southern Peaks), IHS arrived physically and, most importantly to head coach Jennifer Seibel, mentally ready to forget a 19-25, 17-25, 23-25 loss at Dolores barely 48 hours earlier.
With the Farmers celebrating Senior/Parent Appreciation Night, the ’Cats caught SHS slipping almost immediately. SHS junior Kimberly Pargin began the match on serve, but after Kandace Pargin downed a kill, Ignacio then took a 2-1 lead and swiftly swelled it to 17-8 before a kill by Sargent junior Denver Holman and a Holman block of Neil helped close the gap to 17-12. But Sargent would get no closer; IHS junior libero Tarah Baker willed an ace through the top of the net to put the ’Cats on set point, 24-14, and junior Reggi Gustafson then downed a Baker set after Sirios dug Kandace Pargin and directed the ball Baker’s way.
Sirios started Set 2 on serve, and the match quickly became the competitive clash all expected it would be. A brief 4-0 burst with Deacon on serve put SHS up 9-5, but Ignacio (19-4 overall; 11-1 SJBL) soon tied at 9-9, and the score would be tied seven more times – including at 20-20, after the ’Cats wiped out a 17-13 deficit.
But after Deacon aced IHS sophomore Aubriella Herrera to put SHS up 22-20, Ignacio couldn’t pull even again; Sargent reached set point, 24-21, when IHS junior Maliyah Martinez netted a back-row attack, and after IHS senior Juliann Avila scored with a tip shot, Sargent took the set when IHS junior Lainee Bradley netted a rushed second-touch attack.
Sargent took a 4-3 lead in Set 3 and expanded it to 15-8 before Ignacio, which never led during the set, clawed back to as close as 21-20 via a Bradley finish. SHS head coach Amber Mortensen used a timeout, and Neil then netted a tip try, moments before Bradley netted a serve putting SHS on set point, 24-22. Seibel then burned a timeout before Anderson served and Neil responded with a cross-court spike, but Kandace Pargin put Sargent up 2-1 in the match with a sideline roll Sirios couldn’t save.
Coming back with force in the fourth, however, Ignacio struck back and allowed Sargent to lead only at 1-0. The ’Cats then took control at 2-1 and pressed Mortensen into using a timeout early after a Gustafson ace increased IHS’ lead to 8-3. Despite a Kandace Pargin kill, IHS then outscored SHS 6-1 in building the lead up to 14-5. But the Farmers dug deep and closed to 18-14 before falling back, 22-15, after Seibel used a timeout.
Neil brought up set point, 24-17, by drilling a Sirios quick set off Kimberly Pargin, and after Kandace Pargin stuffed Gustafson, Sargent gave the set away by netting an attack.
Three more errors plus a Gustafson roll shot off Deacon staked Ignacio to a 4-0 lead in the tiebreaker, and after SHS strung together seven unanswered points – five on Holman’s serve, and one on reserve Taylor Adams’ after the sophomore subbed in for Holman, whose left calf abruptly cramped – the ’Cats mounted another rally knotting the score at 10-10, and took the lead for keeps on the very next point.
“I think Dolores showed us that we needed … to fight,” Martinez said. “This was really important for us because we had the choice of having a ‘loser’ mentality; coming here and fighting shows us that we actually have what it takes to play and do well.”
“Yesterday we had a really good practice. So that was one thing that really helped us today,” Neil said. “We don’t like losing, so we just got back at it and wanted this. But we have to stay humble knowing we haven’t won anything yet. But if we work as a team … and if we all want it bad enough we can do it.”
Postseason play for Ignacio will begin the weekend of Nov. 7-8, though destination/opponents were unknown as of press time. Regional tourney bracket are due to be seeded and released by CHSAA on Monday.
