If you had only watched the two teams warmed up, you might think that Dulce would easily win their match. Their hitters could consistently jump way above the net and swing hard. Meanwhile, Mesa Vista barely had anyone who could reach above the net, focusing more on just getting the ball to the other side.
But that strategy, despite physical disadvantages, paid off for Mesa Vista. The Lady Trojans were able to control the ball and the pace of the match with their polished defense.
Mesa Vista won Aug. 31 in straight sets, 25-23, 25-16, 25-18. The home win was Mesa Vista’s first of the year, and Dulce still looks for its first win after sitting out the 2020-21 season.
“We can trust our defense, and we can outlast them,” said Mesa Vista coach Leonard Torrez.
Mesa Vista is looking to improve from a disappointing spring 2021 season, with Torrez now in his second year.
“This year, we’ve really gotten to know each other, and we’ve gotten used to the system,” said junior Kylie Torrez. “We feel more connected this year.”
“The program’s been in such a losing cycle, that they get ahead and they seem to relax,” said coach Leonard Torrez.
Throughout the match, the Lady Hawks looked like the taller and more athletic team. But they often struggled on defense and with communication and errors.
Only two of the Lady Hawks were on the roster for the team’s last season two years ago.
“We have a very young team this year,” said Dulce coach Selenarose Hammond. “We only have one senior, who has never played before.”
Hammond was previously an assistant coach with the program before taking over this year to replace Kathleen Salazar-Valdez.
She said this is the first year in a long time they have had such a tall team.
At first, it looked like Dulce would run away with the match. They won the first six points, and quickly took a 9-2 lead.
The service game for the Lady Hawks was especially strong in the first set, with five aces including three from sophomore setter Mattie Dale. Dale also had 17 assists in the match to lead all players.
But Mesa Vista started to come back, propelled by strong defense and mistakes from the Lady Hawks. Dulce in one stretch did not win a point on serve in four straight tries. But they still led wire to wire and were up 19-14 in the set. But Mesa Vista tied at 23-23, and won the last four points to win 25-23.
“Defense is our biggest strength, for sure,” Kylie Torrez said.
For set two, though, the Trojans dominated from the start. They won the first four points and 10 of the first 11, quickly building a huge lead. Dulce won six straight points in one run and five straight in another, but still lost the set 25-16.
“I see spurts where we are very good,” Hammond said. “And then we fall off the deep end, and we don’t know what we’re doing. But we’re going to get there.”
The third set was much tighter, with the two teams trading leads. Mesa Vista led 14-9 at one point, but a few good service runs tied the set at 17-17 and again at 18-18. But Mesa Vista then won the last seven points for a 25-18 win to sweep the match.
“We really pulled through at the end, we were starting to lose it,” Kylie Torrez said.
She said in their five-set loss to Pecos, the Trojans lost focus at the end, but they kept their focus throughout this match.
Leonard Torrez said he told the team that if they lost the third set, they would lose momentum in the match and lose in five.
“(Dulce was) playing with fire,” he said.
Kylie Torrez led the Trojans with four kills, while sophomore Bailey Vigil had six for Dulce. Leonard Torrez credited eighth-grader Jaslene Torrez for holding strong, especially in the service game. And junior Amarissa Quintana played the first game of her high school career.
Mesa Vista’s next match comes Friday at the Magdalena Invite. The Trojans are 1-1 now on the season.
Dulce lost its following match Sept. 3 against Kirtland Central at the Piedra Vista tournament, 25-11, 25-12, 25-23. The Lady Hawks fall to 0-3 on the year, and face Escalante on Wednesday (9/8).
“We’ve only been practicing for two weeks, so we’re way behind everybody else,” Hammond said. “So as soon as we catch up to everybody else, people better watch out. Dulce’s coming.”