Escalante High School volleyball teammates Sarah Hurd, Makeely Garcia and Rikki Rivas all received one more opportunity to take the court together.
The three stars from the Lobos’ team, who finished 16-7 this past season, came together a final time to help lead the North to a 3-1 victory over the South in the 1A/2A All-Star volleyball match, June 7, at La Cueva High School.
Hurd and Garcia were responsible for 62 percent of the Lobos’ kills during the 2017 season — and Hurd led the team with 189.
Their play carried over to the all-star game, as Hurd helped control the match from her leftside hitter position and Garcia dominated from the same position and middle blocker most of the night.
Hurd said in retrospect, the outcome of the match won’t be that important, but in the moment it meant everything to win.
“The south was stacked and they always have the best athletes,” she said. “They’re always the ones winning state championships, so to beat them, it’s pretty special.”
The teams only had a total of three days together to prepare and mesh, but the relationships they built in their short time as a unit, went well beyond the time frame.
“I met some of the best people,” Garcia said. “The connections we built over these last three days are just unbelievable. Our team was so tight-knit. I got to play with the best all-stars in New Mexico and to do that for my last game ever is just unexplainable.”
For Rivas, the North’s libero, winning was the goal as well, but under far different circumstances.
“I wanted to win this for my grandmother,” she said. “She’s always been my number one supporter and she passed away a few months ago, so this was for her.”
Rivas also tore her anterior cruciate ligament in her knee during her junior season, so the ability to comeback and be awarded as an all-star the following year was a proud moment for her, she said.
The teams split the first two sets, then the North pulled off an eight-point comeback in the third set, after trailing 17-9.
The fourth and what would be the final set was tightly contested, but the North went on a 6-0 run to push their lead to 21-15, before pulling away to close out the set, 25-17.
Last of the Lovatos
Pojoaque High School libero, Analisa Lovato, closed out her volleyball career in the 3A/4A match-up, where the North swept the South 3-0.
The run of the Lovatos also came to an end for the Elkettes, as Analisa was the final of four sisters to play for the school, following Monica, Miquella and Amber, who all won state titles during the Elkettes five consecutive championship run from 2009-2013.
It was a tough task to follow her sisters’ standards that they set, but Analisa knew she had to keep their achievements separate from her own career.
“It was an awesome experience going through the same program they went through since I look up to them so much,” Analisa said. “I have to admit it, I did feel pressure, but I knew that I had to make my high school career my own no matter what.”