Powered by an offensive outburst from Hailey Whittaker, the Escalante High School volleyball team was able to overcome a sluggish start and escape Christian Life Gym in Santa Fe for their sixth consecutive victory.
The Lady Lobos (11-1) outlasted a pesky effort from Class 1A’s Santa Fe Waldorf Oct. 13 to defeat the Lady Wolves 3-1 (18-25, 25-12, 25-22, 25-23).
Escalante hosted District 5-2A opponent Peñasco High School Tuesday, but those results were not available by press time.
After being outplayed in the first set and committing far too many service and attacking errors against Waldorf, it was Whitaker who stepped up big in the second set to draw the momentum back to the Lady Lobos.
The senior had a team-high 14 kills and seven blocks, a majority of which came against Waldorf’s powerful hitter Rose Moon who had dominated against Coronado High School just a week earlier with 33 kills.
Escalante held Moon to nearly half of that output at 17 kills.
Whittaker showed off a variety of shots in the second-set turnaround for the Lady Lobos — including anything from tips, off-speeds to downright powerful swings from the middle or outside.
“We were really scrappy,” Whittaker said about the second set. “I think sometimes we get comfortable and let things happen and we need to take control of the game. The scrappy points are great, but we need to play volleyball (more like that second set): bump, set, and rip like we are supposed to.”
Escalante was scrappy, but they were also sloppy when it came to serve receiving. The Lady Lobos committed 15 errors and only passed successfully at a 67 percent clip to stay in system, Escalante head coach Henry Gettler said.
Waldorf’s Moon and Nicoya Dant used a variety of serves to combine for six aces, but their short serves proved to be deadly, especially in the third and fourth set.
“As you could see, we struggled with the serve and receive basically all night,” Gettler said. “Very uncommon for us, but to be expected. We have had one practice in a week due to various things and it showed. Waldorf did a good job at keeping us on our heels with the serve.”
With Escalante ahead 2-1, the fourth set was all Waldorf. That was until the Lady Lobos went on a 10-0 run to retake the lead at 23-22.
Sydney DeYapp continued to serve during the run and recorded three aces in the span. It was none other than Whittaker who tied the score at 22 with one of her seven blocks. The run would end when Zoe Archuleta committed a silly hitting error, but she rebounded and scored the next point, then Aubrianna Hinds finished off the match with one of her eight kills to close the set at 25-23.
“Hailey was huge for us at the net and Sydney came through with serves,” Gettler said. “Overall, we didn’t play like we’re capable of, but that’s what practice is for, to get better.”
Escalante received huge efforts offensively from Archuleta and Kalese Torrez, who had seven kills apiece. Each player had their moments on the third and fourth sets to help change the momentum of the match.
The two combined for three of the last four points for the Lady Lobos in their third set victory as Archuleta recorded a kill and an ace and Torrez added a kill to help Escalante separate when they led 21-20.
Afterward, Gettler and Whittaker were happy to leave with a victory, but both acknowledged their goal of winning a District championship will be hard to come by if they don’t keep improving.
“We gave them all their points (with our mistakes),” Whittaker said. “We were playing up and down and we need to play consistent. Yeah, we survived and we won, but we didn’t play to our expectations. It doesn’t matter about the win but how we play as a team and personally, today I think it was a lot of the passes. Usually our passes are always there and our strong point, but it wasn’t always their today.”
DeYapp recorded 35 assists and Elyssa Baca led the team with 20 digs, followed by Hinds (10), Val Valdez (10) and Whittaker (6).
Hinds left the match early in the second set after twisting her ankle, but was OK to return.
After Tuesday’s matchup with Peñasco, Escalante has seven games remaining, which are all District matches in exception to a visit from Antonito High School from Colorado.
Lady Hawks still soaring high
Like Escalante, Dulce High School is atop their district and on a win streak of their own. Since falling to Santa Fe Indian School in the final of the Gold Bracket at the Santa Fe Indian Pink Tourney and losing a non-district match at Navajo Prep, the Lady Hawks have rattled off seven consecutive victories with their latest coming in an impressive 3-1 (21-25, 25-21, 26-24, 25-19) win at Rehoboth Christian.
Dulce is 12-3 overall and 7-0 in District 1-2A. Rehoboth Christian is right behind them at 5-1 in District play and the teams will face off again in Dulce Saturday in the Lady Hawks’ next contest after an eight-day break.
All of Dulce’s three losses have come away from home, including two of the three to Navajo Prep from 3A.
During their seven-match win streak, the Lady Hawks have won 21 out of 22 sets and won in straight sets in six out of the seven matches.