Starting to seal up their regular season with a vengeance, Ignacio Volleyball prolonged its 2A/1A San Juan Basin League assault with home/away sweeps of Mancos and Telluride Oct. 15 and Oct. 17. With both opponents well below .500 when the first serves in each test were tossed high, there was little doubt either stood much of a chance after Coach Cano's crew took the first game against both. The matches started last Thursday with an impressive 25-6 devastation of MHS in which Ignacio's 1-2 servers (sophomore Shoshone Thompson, junior Alex Forsythe) sent an ominous message.
The duo totaled an incredible 17 aces, Thompson booking nine including one on match point, as the 'Cats out-aced the Jays 22 to 1 in the 25-6, 25-12, 25-19 triumph. MHS (now 2-15, 1-12 SJBL) also committed an alarming 24 serve-reception errors to Ignacio's one, leaving themselves little hope of any sort of success.
Senior Miel Diaz led all players with eight kills, while Forsythe and senior Ellie Seibel had six each as Thompson spread around 18 assists. Defensively, Thompson came up with seven digs in a near-triple-double effort, while Diaz and senior libero Chrystianne Valdez each had a team-best eight.
Junior Nicole Hess' four kills and ace paced Mancos in defeat, while senior Jessica Gutierrez and junior libero Taylor Power-Bahr were steady defensively with 11, and eight digs respectively. Hess also had eight digs.
Telluride somehow managed to slow Ignacio somewhat with a 25-21 win in Game 2 inside the MinerDome, but IHS returned to its Game 1-winning form and re-accelerated late to clinch a 25-14, 21-25, 25-20, 25-10 victory.
And once more, serving was the Volleycats' most lethal weapon as IHS owned a 12-2 lead in aces while happily trailing 21-2 in the reception-error category. Defensively, Ignacio (12-4, 9-1) also dominated the net with a 14-4 lead over the Miners (6-11, 5-8) in total blocks.
Thompson guided the offense well again with 19 assists, and also downed seven kills and came up with seven digs in another solid all-around performance. Seibel spiked down a match-best 11 kills and dug seven balls, and Diaz booked six and nine. Forsythe and junior Kelly Campbell each contributed four kills.
Juniors Samantha Stenhammer and Brianna Brown each downed eight kills for Telluride, but were kept in check by the net-work of Campbell (4 solo blocks), junior Sheigh Pollock (4 solo, 4 assisted) and Seibel (2s, 2a). Valdez also came up with a team-best 11 digs, behind only junior counterpart Abril Vasquez's 14 for tops in the tilt.
THS sophomore setter Sydney Evans registered an 11-assist, 10-dig double-double in the loss.
Next for IHS-back in the CHSAANow.com Class 2A top ten-will be a visit Oct. 24from Norwood, with play beginning at 11 a.m. Results from last night's match versus Dolores were unavailable at press time.
CHSAANOW.COM CLASS 2A POLL, OCT. 19: 1.Loveland Resurrection Christian, 2.Yuma, 3.Greeley Dayspring Christian, 4.Lyons, 5.Edwards Vail Christian, 6.Paonia, 7.Greeley Union Colony, 8.IGNACIO, 9.Ridgway, 10.Colorado Springs School. Others receiving votes-Sargent, Limon, Rye, Cedaredge.
