For Mesa Vista volleyball coach Renee Torrez, the senior night ceremonies had extra meaning.
Her oldest daughter, Kylie, was one of the nine seniors honored after the match, playing in their final home match.
“It was really hard and bittersweet,” Renee Torrez said. “It meant a lot. We were senior deep this year. I wish we would’ve gone out on a winning note, their last home game, but you win some you lose some.”
The Lady Trojans (2-16, 1-7 in district) finished their home schedule with a straight-sets loss to Questa (12-6, 5-3) on Thursday. After the match, they held a senior night ceremony for the team’s leaders alongside their parents and siblings.
“I think we played our hearts out,” senior Natasha Pacheco said. “We just lost track of it in the end.”
During the ceremonies after the match, Pacheco broke down into tears after realizing that was the final match she would ever play alongside her younger sister, Arlena. The sophomore plays junior varsity, and ‘floats’ to varsity during home matches.
“It meant everything in the world for me,” Natasha said. “I had her there by me, cheering me on every game, just as I had my whole bench.”
“It’s cool to see how our coaches care about us,” senior Shanae Silva said. “We have a bond with our coaches that nobody else does.”
Kylie Torrez played well at setter for the Trojans, recording 15 assists. Brittni Suazo led the team with seven kills, and Silva added six.
Coach Torrez said the season has been “a struggle”, as she had to take over as coach early in the season, and they only finished with wins in two matches.
“We’re still learning,” she said. “We’ve got two games left, hopefully we can get a couple of wins in, and go from there.”
Against Questa, the Trojans started strong; after giving up the match’s first three points, they scored four in a row. They were up 10-9. But Questa, from up 14-12, scored 11 straight points to take the win.
The Wildcats took a big lead early in the second set, and then won seven of the last eight points to win 25-14. Mesa Vista took an early lead up 5-1 in the third set, forcing a timeout. But QUesta battled back, and scored six straight points, ending with a 25-19 victory.
“I saw heart, and I hadn’t seen that in a while from them,” said Renee Torrez. “Especially that last set, they wanted it.”
Earlier, in junior varsity, Mesa Vista won the first set 25-15, but Questa won close battles in the second (28-26) and third (16-14) sets to take the win.
Mesa Vista plays two more road games to finish the season, on Nov. 7 they play at Peñasco (7-12, 1-7) and the next day they finish the season at Mora (5-13, 2-6).
After that, the focus shifts to basketball, truly the big game in town for all of the Lady Trojans.