PUEBLO – Marissa Olguin admitted she may have been a little out of her element.
Olguin was relied upon to be more of a defensive player during her Ignacio Volleyball career. But she was put in the back and realized that was just the nature of being a Colorado High School Coaches Association All-State Games selection; Olguin went about her business and probably surprised even herself.
“I did not expect to be put in the back,” she said, following the games’ third-place match Friday afternoon. “I mean, kind of a little bit because I’m not tall, but I didn’t think I’d be playing back row at all. I was a little nervous at first, because I didn’t ever play back-row in the season and these girls just kill it.”
But whereas filling a defensive-specialist role may have been like breaking in new shoes, stepping behind the service line was old hat to the graduated IHS senior – and a big reason she and the Blue team took a 2-sets-to-1 lead inside CSU-Pueblo’s Massari Arena against White.
Olguin was given her first chance to serve during Set 2. She justified Fort Lupton coaches – and designated Games mentors – Cindy and Tylynn Seiler’s confidence by holding serve for four key points, expanding Blue’s lead from 8-7 to 12-7. Therefore, Olguin would have been a top choice to ice Set 3.
Sure enough, after Brighton’s Brooke Logue pounded a shot off the block of Briggsdale’s Kayl Klem, putting Blue up 21-19 late in the third, Olguin trotted back to the service line and didn’t leave until Blue had secured a 25-19 win backing up a 25-18 triumph in the preceding set.
Olguin’s ultimate highlight was likely her clean sideline ace barely five feet from White’s bench and coaches Paula Loucks (Fort Collins Heritage Christian Academy) and Melissa Steinbrunn (McClave).
“We had a lot of mistakes, but we got through them,” Olguin said. “They were really easy mistakes too.”
White, however, wasted little time beginning a comeback, with the hard-hitting Klem acing, ironically, Olguin to start Set 4.
Helped by a short Logue service stand, Blue regained a 4-2 advantage as the set began seesawing out to 9-9. An ace by Collbran Plateau Valley’s Emaline Ealey put Blue up 10-9, and strong net play by Highlands Ranch Rock Canyon’s Alivia Eikenberg helped the lead grow to 15-11 before White responded with a tide-turning 11-1 run.
Blue managed to rally back to 23-20, but White would win 25-20, forcing a tiebreaking fifth set.
Logue, however, won the subsequent coin toss and, sensing solid serving could still sway things her side’s way, elected to serve first. Leading by example, Logue then served Blue out to a 5-0 start, to which White’s only counter was a timeout … which worked an unbelievable treat.
Alamosa’s Taybor Wiedeman got White on the scoreboard by blocking Eikenberg, and though Klem then netted her serve, White continued working and, despite a Blue timeout, pulled even at 6-all. Wiedeman then aced a well-positioned Olguin, and White’s lead grew to 10-6 before Ealey crushed a kill, stopping White’s 9-0 burst.
Back-to-back Ealey tip shots eventually brought Blue back to 11-10, but an Erickson kill, a netted Blue tip try and an Erickson ace put White on match point, and Klem would then put away a tip – securing White a 25-16, 18-25, 19-25, 25-20, 15-10 victory – while multiple Blue players nearest the net were scrambling back onto their feet after desperately preventing White’s prior attack from landing.
Having lost to Black in the previous night’s second semifinal, Blue finished in fourth place.
“We got here yesterday, didn’t have much time to practice or to get to know each other, but we came together as a team really well,” said Olguin, unsure of her post-Ignacio future. “So I was thankful to be here; it means a lot.”
