Despite a tough weekend, Española Valley volleyball gained valuable experience in their second tournament trip in two weeks, seeing strong teams with a variety of play styles.
“This week has been a lot of learning,” said Española coach Nicole Romero. “A lot of learning, a lot of fighting. On the court, not within each other.”
The Lady Sundevils (1-8) struggled through the Tournament of Champions in Santa Fe, placing fourth in their pool and losing all three matches in the ‘Silver’ bracket, though they won at least one set in all three.
During pool play, Romero said they lost close games to Robertson (3-2) and defending state champion Hope Christian (4-3), and split two sets with Grants (4-4).
“It seems like these girls like to play to the level of their opponent,” Romero said. “And that’s just something that we have to overcome as a team and as a program.”
In the first round of bracket play, the Sundevils lost to Farmington (6-3), though they won the third set off the eventual winner of the ‘Silver’ bracket.
For their semifinal game, they had a hard-fought five-set match with Gallup (4-3).
Freshman setter Leah Vigil had a strong match with 27 assists and three aces. Junior Mercedes Gonzales had four blocks and four kills, while Rhianna Padilla had nine kills.
Española fell behind early in the first set and never mounted a major comeback, dropping 25-18. But they switched the momentum back in the second set, consistently winning points without a major service run, and they won 25-15.
That momentum went away in the third set when Gallup scored seven straight points early in the set and cruised to a 25-14 win. But Española came back in the fourth, and won the last three points after falling behind to take a 25-23 win and force a fifth-set tiebreaker.
But everything fell apart at the end. The Sundevils lost the first eight points of the set, and lost 15-2.
“I think I spoke too soon when I said they’re learning how to win,” Romero said, referring to a match against Belen where Española rallied for a comeback victory — but they have lost six often close matches since. “We can’t get over that hump. We’re hanging in with teams and we just can’t get over that hump. It’s experience, and we just lack that varsity experience.”
In the seventh-place match, Española fell in four close sets to Grants, winning the first set 25-23 and losing the rest 25-22, 25-20, 27-25.
The Sundevils return to the court Wednesday for a road match at West Las Vegas (2-4).
“Now they’re knowing that they can compete come districts,” Romero said. “Pojoaque looks great. Los Alamos looks great. I don’t know about Taos and Moriarty, but they can hit the ball. So, we’re just seeing different things that they might give to us.”