Construction at Ignacio High School has forced the Bobcats’ volleyball team to play three out of its first four games on the road.
The Bobcats will play 15-of-19 overall in unfriendly confines.
“We have to wait until the middle school gets done with their practice, and then we can practice,” IHS head coach Thaddeus Cano said Monday before Thursday’s home opener.
IHS (1-2) lost its first two matches to Kirtland Central and Monte Vista before beating Ouray 3-1 on Saturday.
The Bobcats will play Mancos at 4 p.m. Thursday at Ignacio Middle School.
They’ll play Ridgway at home Saturday before heading to Simla for a tournament.
Cano doesn’t expect the travel to affect what they’re doing. He’s installed a fast offense for this year’s young Bobcats team that should travel well.
“We’re pushing an extremely fast offense. There are going to be some errors,” Cano said. “I’m fine with our initial start. We’re willing to accept errors, because we know we’re going to get better.”
Five of the nine players on Ignacio’s roster are freshmen, including primary setter Shoshone Thompson, who has the keys to Ignacio’s attack. She leads the team with 37 assists this season.
“She’s a really, really good setter, aggressive at the serving line, as well,” Cano said. “She’s getting there running the quicker sets and the slides.”
IHS only has one senior on the roster this season, Amya Bison. She doesn’t have as much experience as one would expect after missing half of last season with a concussion.
Leadership duties, then, typically have fallen to juniors Ellie Seibel and Chrystianne Valdez.
“Their volleyball IQs and keeping the team together, they’re very good and very quick. They read (plays) extremely well,” Cano said. “They watch what happens before it happens.”
IHS sophomore Kelly Campbell also has stepped up on a young team. She’s second on the team in kills (10) to Seibel (13).
“At 5-11, she’s figured out how to run the slide very well and can really bang the balls,” Cano said.
The area of the game Cano would like to see his team shore up before Thursday’s home opener is at the service line.
Cano has most of the Bobcats performing aggressive jump serves, which can be erratic.
“We keep a lot of teams out of system doing that,” he said. “What we need to do is trim down our serving errors.”
kgrabowski@durangoherald.com
