RIO RANCHO — It was a noteworthy season for McCurdy volleyball as the Lady Bobcats came within a couple of bounces of reaching the Class 2A semifinals.
Nevertheless, ninth-seeded McCurdy made a pretty loud statement that it is a team on the rise. It won three matches and dropped two, including a 3-1 heartbreaker to No. 3 Mesilla Valley in the quarterfinals that went 21-25, 25-20, 27-25, 25-19 in the Lady Bobcats’ third match of that day.
“I feel like we went out and did our best,” middle blocker Gabriela Velasquez said. “We played with a lot of heart and we went out and played good. We’re proud of each other. I never felt so proud of myself and everybody else on that team.”
The match against the Son Blazers could have gone McCurdy’s way, Velasquez said.
“All of these were so much fun, we won the first one and the second and third one, we fought like we never fought before,” she said. “We lost, but we put in a lot of work and effort into it. We could have won. We made a couple of mistakes, but everybody makes mistakes.”
The Lady Bobcats (20-8) put in the type of effort and performance that was evident for most of the year before losing two of three matches in the final week of the regular season, which also coincided with the state cross country meet in which many of the volleyball players also participate.
“They just got in there and played at a good level,” coach Maxine Martinez said. “We got a little bit of a slump the last week of district and for them to be able to rebound and pick it back up and refocus and play like they did, that’s all we ask. It was the team we knew we had all along.”
Particularly gratifying was opening the state tournament with a payback 25-12, 25-17, 25-17 win Thursday over District 5 rival Questa, which beat the Lady Bobcats in the regular season finale.
“They came out really strong versus Questa,” Martinez said. “Some of those losses motivate you. And they definitely took the opportunity this time to give it a little bit of an extra effort there.”
The Lady Bobcats certainly looked like a different team, added outside hitter Kaylee Martinez, McCurdy’s only senior.
“I think we just we wanted to win,” she said. “And we knew we had to do better and try harder if we wanted to make it farther and we just played good volleyball.”
The Lady Bobcats followed that up with a 25-12, 25-13, 25-8 loss to No. 1 seed and eventual state champion Legacy Academy later Thursday, but rather than letting that result break their spirit, they bounced right back Friday with impressive outings.
First, McCurdy eliminated No. 7 Lordsburg 25-22, 25-20, 25-21, then followed that up with a 25-16, 25-22, 23-25, 25-16 win over No. 5 Raton.
“They have that mentally of we’re already here,” Maxine Martinez said. “We have another game. Let’s go out there and compete the best we can. They all felt pretty confident and did what we were asking them to go out and do, what we’ve been asking all season long.”
After many years where McCurdy was a non-factor in volleyball, the program has turned the corner with consecutive state tournament appearances and progressively deeper runs.
“I think its heading in the right direction,” Maxine Martinez said of the Lady Bobcats’ future. “Hopefully, it keeps going in that direction. It’s been kind of fun and it’s what any coach wants. We’re playing some good volleyball. They’re buying into what it is we were trying to do and it allowed us to reach some of these goals. Most of all, they’re just competing well and executing what we ask. That was really nice to see.”
Buoyed by this performance, the future looks promising, Velasquez said.
“Next year, I think we’re going to come back a lot stronger,” she said. “We have a lot of seniors — seven. And I feel like the seven that we have are strong. Our team has been together for so long and we are a team. No little parts, just one big part. No matter what age you are, freshman, junior, sophomore, everybody plays together.”
Kaylee Martinez has been with team since she was in eighth grade and seeing where it is now compared to where it was, is rewarding.
“It’s been fun,” she said. “It’s been a great experience. We’ve accomplished a lot. We came very far. We came from losing to this. It was a big accomplishment, all of it.”
And the Lady Bobcats entered the tournament with a different attitude.
“Last year, it was our first time making it in a while and we didn’t know what to expect,” Kaylee Martinez said. “Since we went last year, we knew there was going to be great teams and great competition. We knew we had to go out and as play as strong as we could. We played really well. I think we did really good.”