The final night of the Ignacio High School volleyball season started out pretty in pink with a rowdy crowd. It ended with the Bobcats rounding their regular season out with a home loss versus Pagosa Springs in straight sets.
Prior to its final home game, Ignacio honored Breast Cancer Awareness Month with its “Pink Game.”
Ignacio lost to Pagosa Springs 25-16, 25-23 and 25-23. The match was tough on the Ignacio Bobcats (14-5, 11-1 2A/1A San Juan Basin League), as they were unable to find the touch needed by having 10 service errors while being overpowered by the Class 3A Pirates.
“Our serving (Tuesday night), the best way to describe it was that it stunk,” Ignacio head coach Thaddeus Cano said. “We’ll learn from this moving on with some adjustments in practice, and we’ll be back.”
Even though Ignacio currently holds the Class 2A No. 8 rank by the Colorado High School Activities Association, the Bobcats couldn’t muster what it needed for the win against Pagosa Springs (15-7, 3-4 Intermountain League), which would be ranked No. 11 by CHSAA if the poll extended past 10.
Cano said there are a few minor things his team will do to prepare for the postseason. By playing a 3A team, the competition was tougher, and Cano believes the Bobcats will return strong as ever.
In the first set, both teams came out firing, floating on the energy of the crowd. Pagosa’s power was daunting for Ignacio. The Pirates dominated the first set, winning with ease.
“They have the fire power,” Cano said. “Unfortunately, we had a lot of missed serves.”
After losing the first set, Ignacio came back with some tenacity and even took an 11-7 lead at one point. Momentum began to build off of junior Kelly Campbell’s relentless blocking skills. Campbell ended the game with only two blocks, but the power behind those two were impressive.
Up 17-13 in the second set, Ignacio couldn’t maintain its lead and watched Pagosa go on a 5-1 run to tie the set at 18. Pagosa ended up winning 25-23. In that set there were eight lead changes and seven ties.
“We knew we had to defend their strength, which was serving,” Pagosa Springs head coach Connie O’Donnell said. “We were determined not to get served off the court. We also wanted to hold our composure, which I was really proud of the girls for doing that.”
Pagosa was in complete control from start to finish in the third set. The Pirates went up 16-12 and never truly were in position to lose the match. Ignacio still had some fight, though. With Pagosa looking to close out Ignacio, the Bobcats went on a late run to tie the game at 20-all; however, Pagosa called a timeout to calm the match down before claiming the win.
jmentzer@durangoherald.com
