The Pojoaque Elkettes have landed the first punch in their annual battle with the Robertson Cardinals for supremacy in Class AAA.
Pojoaque defeated Robertson, a District 2AAA rival, Sept. 19 in the championship game of the Tournament of Champions in Santa Fe by scores of 25-19, 21-25, 25-14, 25-17.
Last season, the Elkettes defeated Robertson four times during the regular season, but the Cardinals landed the knockout punch, defeating Pojoaque 3-1 in the Class AAA state semifinals to advance to the state championship game, where they lost to Ruidoso.
“We know where we want to be at the end of the season,” Pojoaque setter Marissa Romero said.
Despite the victory, Pojoaque coach Brian Ainsworth knows it could be a different Robertson team when the two teams meet again in the District 2AAA opener Oct. 1 in Las Vegas.
“A big part of our winning tonight was (Robertson’s) best hitter got hurt,” Ainsworth said. “It wasn’t one of our better performances.”
The Cardinals’ 6-foot Jazmine Harge hurt her arm in the second game of the match and tried to continue, even coming up with a block to help the Cardinals win the second game and even the match, but in the third game it became obvious she couldn’t swing.
“She’s hurt,” Ainsworth shouted from the sidelines to his team.
The Elkettes took advantage of Harge’s ineffectiveness and cruised to victory in the third game behind the hitting of Tamarra Vigil and Dionna Montoya. The Cardinals battled in the fourth game and the score was tied 12-12 when Pojoaque used a pair of kills by Vigil and an ace by Kiana Vigil (no relation) to take a 17-12 lead and stay comfortably in front the rest of the fourth game.
“(Robertson) struggled a little bit.” Ainsworth said. “They didn’t play as hard once their big hitter went down.”
Romero has a lot of options at the net when she gets ready to set her hitters up for a kill. Tamarra Vigil, Liz Gomez and Lindsey Longacre have emerged as offensive weapons for the Elkettes, complimenting returning starters Kira Trujillo and Montoya on the front row.
“(Gomez, Vigil, Longacre) are pulling through,” Romero said. “I have faith in all my hitters and know I can go to any of them.”
Montoya, Romero and Pojoaque libero Miquela Lovato were named to the all-tournament team.
Ainsworth was more impressed with Pojoaque’s victory over Piedra Vista in the semifinals than he was with the Elkettes’ effort in the championship game. The Elkettes swept the taller Panthers 25-23, 25-20, 25-18 to advance to the championship.
“We went out and just swung at the ball,” Ainsworth said. “We weren’t intimidated at all.”
The Elkettes began the tournament by going 6-0 in pool play to advance to the gold bracket of the 16-team tournament. They defeated Rio Rancho Cleveland 25-6, 25-16, 25-16 in the quarterfinals. Pojoaque is 8-1 on the season.