ELBERT COUNTY – Resolutely resisting perhaps the biggest guns in class 2A volleyball, Ignacio nevertheless succumbed to fully loaded Simla’s constant barrage as the Volleycats’ season ended with a 16-25, 10-25, 15-25 loss out on the high Eastern Plains.
“Big hitters … they get in your head a lot: ‘Oh my God, they’re going to crank it down our throats!’” IHS senior Ollyvia Howe said. “So I think that was somewhat of an intimidation factor that our girls fought.”
Ignacio head coach Jennifer Seibel was happy her team didn’t give up and that they had the next-play mentality. Her goal for her team was to be tenacious on defense.
Hoping to earn a trip to the 2024 CHSAA State Championships at the 2A-Region I tournament, delayed by 30 hours to Sunday evening due to the approaching winter’s first true snowstorm, the ’Cats began well against Colorado Springs St. Mary’s.
Seeded 36th in the State Tournament’s opening round-of-36, the Pirates – beaten 9-25, 8-25, 13-25 by event-hosting SHS in the regional’s 4 p.m. opener – had little to offer No. 24 Ignacio, which went wire-to-wire in the first and third sets of a 25-19, 25-20, 25-12 sweep.
SMHS senior Leah Flanigan started the third set but after Ignacio won the first point, the ’Cats – helped by sophomore setter Kelly Sirios’ 10-point stay on serve, featuring three consecutive aces – also grabbed 13 of the next 14 in building a 14-1 lead. St. Mary’s didn’t reach double digits until trimming the deficit to 21-10, and IHS reached match point at 24-11. Howe was then called for a net violation while pounding down an SMHS overpass but then ended the match with a kill shot Flanigan couldn’t stop.
“We had a rough warm-up, and so I said ‘Good! We got that out of our system and now it’s go time!’” Seibel said. “And they started off on fire. Our goal’s been consistency – be consistent throughout a match and not focus on highs and lows – and they stepped up. Especially in that third set, I gave them a goal: Keep (St. Mary’s at or) under 12 … and we did.”
There was no hope of doing so against top-seeded Simla, as junior Katie Gotschall smoked a kill through IHS sophomore Maliyah Martinez’s hands to earn the very first point. IHS senior Marissa Olguin served out of play, retying the score at 2-2, and SHS freshman Haylee Easler followed with a booming kill through the middle.
Sophomore Aubrey Layton then served consecutive aces and Easler tacked on a scoring tip shot, growing Simla’s lead to 6-2 before increasing it to 12-6 and pressing Seibel to use a timeout. Unfortunately, the Volleycats got no closer than 15-11, via a Howe ace, before the Cubs took a one-set lead in the contest with Gotschall and senior Elle Leininger blocking Howe.
Olguin started set two on serve, but Simla quickly swiped it from her as Maranville killed a set provided by senior Meadow Nusbaum. Maranville then followed with an ace, and Gotschall teamed with Nusbaum to then block IHS sophomore Lainee Bradley. Sophomore Carlee Cox then blasted a kill shot, and Ignacio got no closer the rest of the way than at 5-3, via a Howe kill. A Gotschall bomb brought up set point at 24-10, and Maranville followed with an ace Sirios couldn’t save along the far sideline.
The ’Cats kept scrapping early in the third set, tying the score at 4-4 before an Easler kill and a Leininger tip got the Cubs the breathing room they’d need. Ignacio did get back to 6-5 and later 11-8 via a surprising Sirios set dump, but Simla then strung together six points – the last being a Layton corner ace IHS sophomore libero Tarah Baker guessed might hook out of bounds.
Still, Ignacio (15-10 overall) wasn’t finished and somehow got back to 19-14 after freshman Aubriella Herrera saved a broken play with a scoring tip shot, but SHS reached match point, 24-15, when senior Morgan Swennes aced Herrera. Seibel used her second and final timeout, but Gotschall concluded the match with an off-speed roll shot through the middle.
Seibel said she felt blessed the team could play and that her girls and the fans could be there with the weather around the area.
“I’m really looking forward to next season, building upon the experience that St. Mary’s gave us, Simla gave us … on a bigger stage, out of our comfort zone,” she added. “It’s tremendous, the type of growth that we’re going to see next year.”
