This match was important, it had a postseason feel and for all intents and purposes, Ridgway had it circled on its calendar.
Without one of its more important pieces, the Ignacio High School girls volleyball team dropped its second match in a row to the Ridgway Demons on Saturday at Ignacio High School in consecutive sets 25-21, 28-26 and 25-15.
Coming into Saturday’s match, Ignacio (9-4, 6-1 1A/2A San Juan Basin League) was ranked No. 7 by Colorado High School Athletic Association after putting together an impressive run of nine wins in a row. However, Saturday’s loss coupled with Thursday’s loss to Centauri will surely drop the Bobcats in the rankings.
Ridgway (12-1, 9-1 SJBL) meanwhile, was unranked by CHSAA despite receiving 14 votes and will most likely break into the top 10. Ridgway has now won seven matches in a row with the last loss coming from Ignacio on Sept. 19.
“This feels great; we were prepping for this game since we played them the last time,” Ridgway head coach Amy Rutherford said.
Starting sophomore setter Shoshone Thompson missed her second game because of Ignacio’s concussion protocol. She sustained a concussion in Ignacio’s loss against Nucla on Oct. 3. The loss of Thompson was glaring in Ignacio’s back-to-back home losses.
“We knew (Shoshone) picks up a lot of balls so we just played our same game,” Rutherford added. “We were just having our girls stay aggressive and swing hard.”
Ignacio started hot by going up 7-2 in the first set, but Ridgway came back and scored five points in a row to tie the set. Game one went back-and-forth, but Ridgway took the lead at 11-10 and never lost the lead from then on. In that first set, there were five lead changes.
“I think we played really hard and had some adversities these past few days,” said IHS senior Chrystianne Valdez, daughter of Christopher and Cindy Valdez.
She elaborated and said losing Thompson caused Ignacio to adapt.
“I don’t think we have anything to be ashamed of,” said Valdez, who finished the game with 18 digs. “It was a great game, and we played really well.”
According to Ignacio head coach Thaddeus Cano, Thompson will be back next week.
“We’ll be fine after this. We’re looking forward to state with the team healthy. We’ll be even stronger now going forward,” Cano said.
Cano said Thompson’s replacement, junior Alex Forsythe, performed admirably.
“She’s been hitting outside all season; she’s only had four days of practice at setting, so she performed amazing with the role that she was thrust into,” Cano said.
Down 1-0, Ignacio once again sprinted out of the gates and built a solid 4-1 lead that quickly extended to 9-4. The Bobcats were hanging to a strong 12-5 lead before the Demons called a time out to cool off the Bobcats. The Demons chipped away at the lead and eventually tied up the game at 23. The two teams battled ferociously, and before anyone knew it, the game had changed leads four times in four points.
Ridgway came out firing in the third set and, just as soon as the Demons built a comfortable lead, the Bobcats lost momentum and were put away. Ridgway switched their rotation by putting outside hitter Kaitlyn Rutherford against Forsythe on the net so Rutherford could go over the shorter Forsythe.
The Bobcats couldn’t capitalize on the exit of Ridgway’s Hunter Gentry’s, who absorbed a serve to the back of the head and had to leave with concussion symptoms. She did not return.
Senior Miel Diaz led the Bobcats with five kills, as fellow senior Ellie Seibel finished with four. As a team, Ignacio committed 12 errors, and junior Kelly Campbell led the Bobcats with four blocks.
Ignacio is at home for its next two league opponents. Games against Dove Creek will be at 6 p.m. Oct. 13 and Mancos at 6 p.m. Oct. 15.
jmentzer@durangoherald.com
