Pojoaque outside hitter Dionna Montoya led the Elkettes to a 3-1 road victory over Los Alamos Aug. 29 in her return to the lineup.
Montoya had missed the Elkettes’ season-opener after being injured in an automobile accident Aug. 13 at the Dreamcatcher Cinema intersection in Arroyo Seco. She had suffered severe whiplash, requiring her to wear a neck brace for nearly two weeks. The neck brace was removed just before the Elkettes’ opening game of the season, an Aug. 27 match against Capital, but she did not play.
“My lower back is messed up and my shoulder is still really sore,” Montoya said after sitting on the bench against Capital. “I can’t start hitting for another two weeks. It’s so hard for me to sit and watch.”
However two days later Montoya was medically cleared to play and told coach Brian Ainsworth she was fine, he said.
She had 21 kills in Pojoauqe’s 23-25, 25-21, 25-14, 25-13 victory over the Lady Hilltoppers. The Elkettes improved to 2-0 on the season. They had won their season-opener 3-1 over Capital despite Montoya’s absence.
In that game, the pressure was on Pojoaque sophomore Amber Lovato who was playing her first varsity game at setter. Initially slated to play on the junior varsity squad, Lovato was thrust into a starting role on the varsity team. The move forced coach Brian Ainsworth to juggle his lineup and change his rotation, moving senior setter Marissa Romero to outside hitter and moving Lovato into the setter spot.
“There’s been a lot of pressure, but I know the girls are all behind me,” Lovato said. “We’re trying a new rotation and coach has been getting us mentally tough by throwing new things at us.”
Elkette senior Kira Trujillo, a middle blocker, started the match by smacking a kill on the outside for the game’s first point. Trujillo finished the match with 16 kills to lead the Elkettes.
“We told her that she had to step up and get the job done,” Ainsworth said. “She’s going to get a lot more sets than she’s probably ever had.”
The Elkettes used a nine-point service run by Kiana Vigil to establish an 11-4 lead and coasted to victory in the first game, 25-14.
In the second game, Pojoaque fell behind and struggled to catch up. Jaguar kills found empty spots on the floor as players were out of position.
The Elkettes managed to battle back and took their first lead of the game, 20-19, but Pojoaque gave the game back to Capital, by committing two service errors and a hitting error and letting a ball fall to the floor. The Jaguars won the second game, 23-25.
“We practice playing hard and playing fast,” Ainsworth said. “In that second game, we didn’t play hard or fast.”
Pojoaque won the next two games, 25-16 and 25-15, respectively, establishing big leads early and taking a 3-1 match victory.
Montoya recovered more quickly than expected and after obtaining a medical release that cleared her to play, Ainsworth inserted her into the lineup against Los Alamos.
“We just had her playing front row.” Ainsworth said. “She didn’t play back row.”
Pojoaque will not play again until Sept. 10, when the Elkette’s will travel to Taos for their third straight road game against a District 2AAAA opponent.