The Coronado High School volleyball team had only lost to one team all season — Santa Fe Waldorf School.
When outside hitter Raegan Cordova’s dump was blocked by a member of the Des Moines High School volleyball team, and the ball came crashing down onto Coronado’s side of the court, a new feeling arose — the Lady Leopards had lost to someone other than Santa Fe Waldorf.
“I think we are all pretty devastated,” senior middle hitter Molly McClellan said. “But, it was a pretty good season.”
In their quarterfinal match-up against the Lady Demons, Nov. 10, at Cleveland High School, the Lady Leopards started the game with wins in the first two sets. Slowly, Des Moines halted its consistent errors to dominate the rest of the match.
Coronado’s Molly McClellan provided a dominant performance from the middle, and her work helped give the Lady Leopards a come-from-behind win in the set.
A lift foul on Des Moines tied the game at 20 points, apiece. Then, another foul on them gave Coronado a 21-20 lead.
A spike from Cordova on the left side gave the Lady Leopards set point at 24-21, then the Lady Demons’ Abigail Trujillo hit the ball into the net to hand the set win to Coronado.
The Lady Leopards came out stronger in the second set, holding a three to four point lead for the majority of the set.
Des Moines trailed, 24-20, before Coronado stumbled and gave the Lady Demons four consecutive points. The game was tied, 24-24.
McClellan slammed down the final point of the set, giving her Lady Leopards a two-game lead going into the third set.
They needed to win one more set to advance to the state tournament semi-finals.
That set never came and the Lady Demons swept the next three sets.
The third and fourth sets were fairly back-and-forth, but Coronado failed to finish, in the end.
Both of those sets ended with the same score, 25-22, in favor of Des Moines.
The Lady Leopards failed to show any urgency in the fifth set, and quickly, they dug themselves into a 1-8 hole.
They clawed their way back, but could not bridge the immense gap. The Lady Demons won the set, 15-9, and sent Coronado home.
Des Moines went on to play Elida High School in the semi-finals, and the Lady Demons lost in three sets. Elida lost to Melrose High School, which is near Portales, in the state championship game.
Although the Lady Leopards racked up four losses in 23 games, they were one of many strong teams in division 1A, this season.
“We were watching Peñasco and Escalante play and we took care of them in the regular season,” Coronado head coach Ocaris Trujillo said. “I told the girls, ‘I would have loved to have been a 2A school.’ But, it doesn’t work out that way.”
Before playing Des Moines, Coronado had to pass Cimarron High School, Nov. 9, at Rio Rancho High School.
That game also went into five sets. The Lady Leopards came out on top, thanks to a backward dump from setter Maryanne Gonzales, which closed the fifth set for Coronado to advance.
Trujillo said her team had an “off game” against the 9-11 Lady Rams and the Lady Leopards should not have given up the second and third sets.
They had a couple of impressive matches in pool play, so Trujillo was surprised that they fell dull.
“We had a strong game against Waldorf, almost beat them, and they are our nemesis,” Trujillo said.
Coronado is graduating the bulk of the starting line-up, and will have a completely new look, next year. Libero Ceejay Suskey, defensive specialist Sol Vigil and setter Gonzales will all leave in May.
The front row will also take two big hits, with Alia Vigil and McClellan graduating.
Despite the many changes to next year’s roster, McClellan is optimistic about the team she will leave behind.
“They are pretty good,” McClellan said of the non-seniors on the team. “I have a lot of high hopes for them.”