Coronado High School volleyball coach Glenn Callaway has been around the block, just not around blockers and hitters on the volleyball court.
The 30-year-plus New Mexico coaching veteran is stepping into a new facet of his career as he takes over the Lady Leopards’ head coaching duties this season.
“I’ve just been fortunate to coach some good athletes,” Callaway — who was an assistant coach when he coached NFL hall of famer and University of New Mexico and Lovington High School alum Brian Urlacher. “I like going to different schools and just telling kids that anything is possible if they put the work into it and believe in themselves. Like Urlacher (when the two were at Lovington), he put the work into it and everything he got, he earned it. It wasn’t given to him. That’s some of the motivation I use.”
Whatever he’s saying is working early as Coronado has jumped out to an 8-2 record as of Monday (they played at Mora High School Tuesday, but those results were not available by Press time) after defeating Peñasco High School most recently Oct. 4 in straight sets.
The impressive start is more eye-opening after the Lady Leopards graduated their most experienced players in Sol Vigil, Alia Vigil and Molly McClellan, who were the top-three leaders in kills in 2017.
Coming into this season, Callaway has five players who were listed on the varsity roster last year, but he said only two have sufficient playing experience. This year’s team has no seniors.
“We got a lot of work to do and we’re getting there,” he said. “It’s a work in progress to get them to know my coaching style and my game plans. Basically, I tell them it’s a reaction game and you have to react and be on your toes.”
The Lady Leopards put up a strong fight Oct. 3 at Christian Life Gym in Santa Fe when they took on Santa Fe Waldorf, but in this match they found themselves often on their heels instead of their toes.
Lady Wolves’ senior Rose Moon finished with 33 kills and Nicoya Dant added 14 more to lead Waldorf to a 3-2 (24-26, 25-21, 28-26, 21-25, 15-11) victory.
“That Rose girl was intimidating to our girls for sure,” Callaway said. “We haven’t seen a hitter quite like her this year, but you’re not gonna stop an athlete like her, so you just gotta try to keep it away from her as much as you can.”
It was almost a guarantee that Moon, who received the lion’s share of the Waldorf sets, would terminate play when her squad was able to stay in system as the block from Coronado looked absent most of the match.
Coronado fell behind 2-1 after three sets, then came out to play like the match was on the line in the fourth as they jumped out to a 14-2 lead and built their largest lead to 13 points at 19-6.
The Lady Leopards became more active around the net and finally started to dig against the attack from Moon and Jazmyn Delgado and Sulema Archuleta recorded huge blocks on the big hitter.
Waldorf would calm their nerves and took advantage of the Lady Leopards free balls and roll shots to get back in system. Waldorf went on a 9-1 run to shrink the Coronado lead to 24-21.
The Lady Leopards went on to win the set and force a fifth, but Waldorf was energized from their comeback and rode that momentum into the fifth set to take the match.
“That’s just the inexperience on our part,” Callaway said about the momentum Waldorf gained in the fourth set. “We’ve been in that situation against other teams already and we’ve pulled it out, but that’s one thing that is our weakness right now. When we get a big lead like that they seem to slack up for some reason and I’m trying to get them to keep the pedal to the medal, so to speak.”
After trailing 13-8, Coronado made a run to get within two points in set five, then Jannesa Madrid made an error and stepped over the service line to push Waldorf’s lead to 14-11. Moon would end the set and match on a giant kill which had been the theme of the evening.
Moving forward into district play, The Lady Leopards will be led by juniors Archuleta, Madrid and Jaylene Jacquez, but the team does lack height and terminal ability.
A majority of their offensive points come from tips, dumps and roll shots.
“We’ve been mostly working on the fundamentals,” Callaway said. “I’ve got just a few girls who can spike it, kill it, but I just tell them to play smart volleyball. You’re not always going to get that kill so sometimes that little dink will catch teams off guard.”