It is a busy week for a trio of McCurdy volleyball players — Kaylee Martinez, Marisol Serna, and Isabella Archuleta — who are also on the cross country team.
They have had to balance practicing for Saturday’s cross country state championship with two volleyball matches and daily practice. But the idea of focusing on one over the other never crossed their minds. So, before Wednesday’s match, they had a practice of an “easy run.”
Just a few miles of running.
“It’s really tiring,” Serna said.
The McCurdy Bobcats (13-7, 7-3 in district) squared off with the Escalante Lobos (16-7, 10-0) on Wednesday at McCurdy, but Escalante came away with the win in four sets. The Lobos finish off a third-straight perfect district season, and head into the state tournament on a 10-match win streak.
“I saw heart, and I saw want,” Escalante Coach Mikaela Martinez said. “And that’s something that we’ve been really waiting for them to have.”
It’s been a season of great improvements for the McCurdy Bobcats. Over the past three seasons, they won just two matches in 2022, one in 2021 and one in 2020-21.
This year, that number is up to 13. Their best season since 2015. And while they fell short of a district championship, they finished a strong tied for second, winning seven district matches and playing close against everyone.
“Last year, compared to this year, it’s such a big difference,” said the freshman Archuleta, who was also on varsity as an eighth-grader.
Serna said it’s felt like a “complete reset” with new players on the team and a new head coach in Maxine Martinez.
“It’s just 10 times better, so much more fun,” Serna said. “We’ve grown to be better.”
McCurdy, based on rankings, projects just outside the 12-team state tournament field despite their strong season. The reactions by players after the match portrayed a belief that the season was over. On Sunday they will know for sure.
Against Escalante, Mariana Arambula led the Bobcats with 12 kills, and Serna had 11. Paola Gonzales had 15 assists. For the Lobos, Felice Baca had 17 assists, and Alani Yeahquo had 13 kills.
McCurdy got out to an early lead in the first set, forcing a timeout and going ahead 10-6. But from down 14-10, Escalante scored nine straight points while Felice Baca was serving, and held that lead to a 25-18 win.
The Bobcats again led early in the second set, at 11-6 and 1-8. And again the Lobos struck back, this time with five straight points, then four more to go up 17-14, and they held on to win 25-22.
Set three went all the way down to the end. McCurdy went up 21-19, but Escalante scored four in a row. Then, McCurdy fought off three set points, and won the final three points of the set to win 28-26.
But Escalante closed strong in the fourth set, winning the first four points, holding off a six-point McCurdy run, and finishing it off with a 25-18 win.
“I saw a lot of hustle, some great plays,” Maxine Martinez said. “We just came up a little short. We were so close.”
Escalante learns its seed for the state tournament on Sunday, and will head to Rio Rancho looking to make noise.
Escalante also won in the junior varsity match, 25-23, 25-14.
“I expect to just take everything as it comes, and just take it one game at a time,” Mikaela Martinez said.