There were smiles, hand-slaps and hugs all around at the Class A-AA North-South All-Star volleyball game July 29 in Albuquerque.
From the way they were acting, you’d have thought the North had won. Instead, it was the South that took a 25-15, 25-17, 23-25 and 25-18 victory over the North.
“We didn’t have to win to be happy,” Coronado High School’s Lupita Salazar, who’ll be attending the University of Southern California this fall, said. “We left it all out on the court, got our knees burned and had a lot of fun.”
The North had players from schools all over Northern New Mexico, including some that Salazar wasn’t familiar with.
“I learned a little bit more about New Mexico geography,” she said.
One of those players was Roy’s Laura Pharies, who will be a Division One athlete this fall when she runs track at New Mexico State University. Pharies dominated the sprints at the Class A-AA state track meet in May, but her volleyball skills aren’t bad either — she helped the North take its lone victory in the third gamae.
With Salazar at the service line, the North reeled off six straight points to take a 20-14 lead with Pharies putting down some impressive kills. It looked like the South would rally and take back the lead, but a Pharies kill stopped the South’s momentum and gave the North a 21-18 lead.
The South rallied to tie the score at 22-22, but a kill by Magdalena’s Sasha Hardy gave the lead back to the North.
It was 24-23 in favor of the North when McCurdy School’s Amanda Hernandez smacked a kill through a double block by the South to give the North a 25-23 victory.
“That was definitely a great highlight for me,” Hernandez said. “It’s an experience you don’t get with a school team, playing at a level where everyone is on.”
Hernandez will be attending the University of New Mexico to study architecture.
The North battled in the fourth game, but the South had more firepower and put the match away with a 25-18 victory.
The North’s loss wasn’t enough to dim the satisfaction of Coronado’s Heather Chacon, who played libero.
“It was a blast,” Chacon said.
Chacon helped lead Coronado to a 19-4 record this past season.