Joslyn Nunez received a surprise birthday celebration from her teammates.
They came up to the sophomore setter with a box of cupcakes after the match with a box of cupcakes and sang Happy Birthday before she blew out the candles. A minute later, her face was covered with icing.
“It was fun, I wasn’t expecting the girls to do anything,” Nunez said.
On Nunez’s 16th birthday on Tuesday, the Elkettes defeated Miyamura (3-1) in four sets on Tuesday to reach 5-0 on the season, winning 23-25, 25-14, 25-12, 25-15.
“It’s been really exciting,” Nunez said. “Just being able to play with the girls, being able to play on the court.”
Nunez has stepped in as Pojoaque setter, one of just a couple of new starters on the team.
“This year, this is her team,” said Pojoaque coach Joe Rodriguez.
The lone blemish on Pojoaque’s season so far comes from the pool play round of the Sept. 2-3 Moriarty Tournament, where the Elkettes, hampered by injuries and illness, finished third behind Hot Springs and Albuquerque Academy. From the “silver” bracket, though, they won out the rest of the week.
“We’re still finding ourselves,” Rodriguez said. “All I asked of them is to win the last match of the day, and they did that.”
From about halfway in the second set, the match seemed to turn. Before that, the two teams seemed competitive with each other.
“I think they got the first-home-game jitters out of their system,” Rodriguez said. “Hopefully they got all that out.”
The first set was a nailbiter, with neither team ever leading by more than three points. But the Patriots came out on top at 25-23 stealing the last point of the set. And the second set started similarly, with Miyamura taking a 5-2 lead.
But from down 10-9 in that set, Pojoaque closed out on a 16-4 run, as the Elkettes finally found the holes in Miyamura’s back row. The rest of the match was similar; Pojoaque won 25-12 in the second set buoyed by a 15-2 run, and they won the first seven points of the fourth and ultimately final set.
Nunez posted an impressive 39 assists in four sets and one ace. Anica Urioste logged 14 kills, and Sonya Quintana had 11 with three blocks. Larissa Rodriguez had nine kills and two blocks.
The Miyamura C-team won 25-12, 25-15, and Pojoaque won the junior varsity match 25-13, 25-16.
Pojoaque plays this weekend at the Tournament of Champions in Santa Fe. Their pool contains Capital (3-0), Gallup (2-2) and Belen (1-2).