The Pojoaque Elkettes trounced the Las Vegas Robertson Cardinals Nov. 7 to capture the District 2AAA tournament title and avenge a loss to the Cardinals in last year’s state semifinals.
The host Elkettes sent the Cardinals packing in three straight games, improving to 20-1 overall this season and 10-0 in District play. Pojoaque has yet to lose a single game in district play this season.
“We took a week off to work out some of the kinks and came out tonight and played well,” Pojoaque coach Brian Ainsworth said. “It’s a good group (Robertson has) here.”
Pojoaque jumped on top early on the strength of a nine-point serving run by sophomore defensive specialist Cara Salazar to build a 10-2 lead. Robertson coach Raynee Gerhart called a time-out, icing Salazar’s serving streak, and the Cardinals eventually clawed back to within five points at 19-14.
But Robertson made some defensive mistakes down the stretch, and Pojoaque senior middle hitter Kira Trujillo, who made 12 kills and was honored after the game as Pojoaque’s student-athlete of the month, closed out a 25-15 game in the Elkettes’ favor from the service line.
“We made some errors you can’t make when you’re playing a team as good as Pojoaque,” Gerhart said.
Robertson kept things interesting in the second game, pulling ahead 15-13 aided by a series of Pojoaque service faults and defensive miscues. Senior Daniella Montoya led the way for the Cardinals with 19 assists and seven digs, with the help of 11 kills by senior Jazmine Harge and seven kills by senior Brooke Knezevich.
But Salazar put together another clutch serving streak, pulling the Elkettes ahead 23-15. Her run ended on a questionable call when a back-row Robertson player came to the net for a kill. Ainsworth argued loudly, but the referees awarded Robertson the point, saying a Pojoaque hitter had touched the net.
No matter, the Elkettes won the game 25-19 on a Robertson service fault.
Pojoaque never looked back, taking a quick third game 25-11 with solid defense and an impressive offensive attack led by senior outside hitter Dionna Montoya and junior middle hitter Elizabeth Gomez.
Montoya had 12 kills, and Gomez wound up with seven kills and seven blocks.
“We had some big blocks out there tonight and were able to play better defense,” Ainsworth said. “We took their big guns out of the game, and after that it was really just sweet to watch.”
Senior outside hitter Marissa Romero also racked up 35 assists, and senior libero Miquella Lovato had 10 digs in the match.
The Elkettes have secured the top seed in the Class AAA tournament and will face Lovington and Sandia Prep in pool play Thursday (11/12) at the Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho. Pool play will determine seeding for the rest of the tournament. The state title game is scheduled for Saturday at 4 p.m.
Despite the Elkettes’ dominant season, Ainsworth said his girls will have their work cut out for them.
“Every game is going to be a challenge,” Ainsworth said. “These are the 12 best teams in the state.”