Down two sets to none, it looked like Española Valley volleyball might be headed to a third straight sweep to start the season.
But the Sundevils, guided by a young Leah Vigil, rallied back to get their first win of the season over Belen on Tuesday.
“It’s exciting,” the freshman setter said. “We’re trying to do it for our seniors”
“I feel like it’s day and night from last year,” said coach Nicole Romero. “It’s been a rough start but I’m really excited.”
Romero said this team now shows a hustle and “want to win” at whatever cost beyond previous years.
“I saw them learn how to win in this match,” she said. “I saw them see that they can do it.”
The end of the first set seemed to be more of the turning point. The Sundevils dropped the first five points, and never seemed to find any sort of momentum on offense, dropping the set 25-13.
A seemingly different team came out in the second set, jumping out to a 5-1 lead. But Belen came back in the set, helped by serving errors from Española, and pulled away late for a 25-21 win to reach the cusp of victory.
Romero said she had to fix the team’s mindset for substitutions, to instead of getting upset about going off the court, to see how they can support their teammates.
Española started hot again in the third set, going up 6-1 and then 9-3. The Eagles came back to tie the set and then take a lead at 20-16. From there, the Sundevils got hot and won nine straight points to take the set.
Belen scored first in set four, but Española came back early and used a five-point run to take a big lead, ultimately closing the set 25-19.
The fifth set stayed close most of the way, but Española started to pull away and forced a Belen timeout at 12-8, then closed out the win 15-11.
Vigil is still adjusting to the role as starting setter as a freshman. Romero pulled her off for a spell in the first set, but she rebounded to be much more effective the rest of the match.
“It’s very exciting to be playing that big of a role at such a young age,” Vigil said.
Vigil finished the match with 31 assists as well as five aces and five kills.
“I’m really excited about Leah,” Romero said. “She ran the court. I can treat her like she’s a senior, and she handles it just fine. She’s mature, and she’s going to be a really big contender for the next four years for the district.”
Senior hitter Robyn Garcia finished with a team-high nine kills, while Franchesca Salazar, Mercedes Gonzales and Santana Martinez all had at least six.
Earlier in the night, the Sundevils junior varsity team cruised to a victory at 25-13, 25-8.