The Capital High School volleyball team improved to 9-4 overall on the season in easy fashion during its Saturday road trip to Española Valley High School.
With the Lady Sundevils (3-9) struggling and their spirits down this season, Capital was able to make quick work of its short road trip and walk away cleanly with a 3-0 (25-11, 25-9, 25-19) sweep on Oct. 12 at Edward Medina Gymnasium.
The Lady Jaguars kept Española razzled and out of system, and more times than not, the countless free balls the Lady Sundevils sent over the net transformed into clean passes, sets and points for Capital.
The Lady Jaguars’ ability to continually find the gaps and open spots on the floor via tip shots and off speed attacks left Española flat-footed and with little opportunity to make plays defensively on a consistent basis.
“We were talking really well and we had some good moments, but when they found our weakness, they picked on it,” Española head coach JuliAnn Martinez said about Capital’s ability to find holes in her team’s defense. “We try to adjust, but by the time that we do adjust, it just seems like the game has gotten away from us.”
The Capital attack was balanced and featured 37 total kills. The well-rounded offense received a team-high nine kills from Alyssa Delgado, eight from Jeraldine De Los Santos, seven from Rebecca Sorensen and six from Ethena Silva.
“Our setter (Molly McCann, 41 assists), I make sure she uses all her hitters and even use some back row attacks,” Capital head coach Max Vargas said. “We try to give everyone a taste of the action.”
As the match progressed, Capital’s size at the net was an evident advantage.
Players like Silva, Sorensen and Delgado made things tough for Española’s Dulce Maldonado, Danielle Kaye and Regina Rodella, even when their Lady Sundevil teammates were able to execute a successful pass and set.
The Lady Jaguars only recorded three blocks, but their presence at the net was enough to bother Española.
“We had some beautiful hits by Dulce and Regina and our middles did as well, but they came hard with the blocks,” Martinez said. “They got blocked and we just kind of started to fall apart.”
Vargas was well-aware of the tough season Española has been experiencing, but he was even more concerned about the Lady Sundevils’ best hitter in Maldonado.
“We know how good Dulce is, so when she goes to the back row, that’s when we take advantage of the game,” Vargas said. “That was it, just try to take them out of system, get the setter to hit the first ball and have some of the other girls try to pass it.”
Española traveled to Taos High School Tuesday, but the result was not available by press time.
That sets the stage for its second match of the season against rival Pojoaque Valley High School, this time at Ben Luján Gymnasium on Thursday (10/17).
Pojoaque swept Española at Edward Medina Gymnasium on Oct. 1.
The Elkettes (11-4, 3-0) picked up a big District 2-4A road win on Oct. 10, taking down Moriarty High School in five sets, 3-2 (25-23, 22-25, 18-25, 26-24, 15-11).
Pojoaque got a team-high 14 kills from Ashten Martinez, 12 more from Espe Torres and nine from Alicia Quintana.
Freshmen Anita Urioste and Sonya Quintana also added five and four kills.
After dropping games 2 and 3, Pojoaque leaned on its serving, ending the game with a 97.1 percent rate with just three errors on 105 attempts.
Martinez picked up three solo blocks, Mikayla Padilla had a team-high 27 digs of the Elkettes’ 116 total.
Pojoaque hosted Los Alamos High School for the District lead on Tuesday when both teams were 3-0 in league play.
The teams will play their second match in the regular season finale on Nov. 11, this time up the hill in Los Alamos.