Saturday, October 11, 2008

Los Lunas falls to Eldorado, Valencia wins in 5 games

Lady Jags open 5-4A play on Tuesday

News-Bulletin reports

Maybe this year's Los Lunas Lady Tiger volleyball team can be the opposite of the 2007 squad. While their predecessors had lots of talent, height and experience and lost their last three matches, maybe the unheralded Tigers of '08 will sneak up on taller, more-experienced opponents.

Facing a veteran Eldorado team Tuesday, the young Tigers looked young in a 25-14, 25-16, 25-22 home loss to the Lady Eagles. LLHS (6-9 overall, 1-2 in District 5-5A) played well at times and had some runs, but poor passing and blocking of the Eagles (7-5, 2-0) were too much to overcome.

Los Lunas coach Connie Campos said her team practices passing a lot, but her green players haven't been able to display strong skill in that area during matches.

"At game time, we look like we never practice those skills," said Campos. "This is a lack of confidence in making the play and second-guessing themselves instead of reacting to the hitter's arm and setting themselves for the pass."

The Tigers, who are idle until traveling to Highland on Tuesday, were never in the first game of the Eldorado match. The Eagles led 8-3 and 23-9 in the game. Several balls were being slammed to the floor in front of the Tiger back row, which was playing almost along the back line.

Eldorado's powerful hitters continued their assault in game two, though the Tigers got their passing and setting to improve somewhat. Los Lunas bounced back from an 8-1 deficit to trail 9-4 and later 17-11, but five straight points by the Eagles put the game out of reach.

Game three was probably the most frustrating for the Tigers. Los Lunas scored 11 of the game's first 16 points, then led 13-7 before Eldorado caught fire. The Eagles went on a 7-1 run, and after Campos called a timeout, continued to dominate the net and grabbed six more points for a 20-14 lead.

The Tigers scored five straight points late to pull to within 23-21, but Eldorado closed out the match.

"Eldorado's players are a very experienced junior and senior group that has played together for the last two years," said Campos. "They are quick at the net; observant, able to read the shorter blockers we had to defend with; and adept at the ability to place the ball where we weren't."

Campos said passing and movement on the court are critical, and all players in her program spend hours on those skills.

"I wish we had that excuse — of not practicing passing skills," said Campos. "But we spend approximately 60 percent of the time on passing and movement drills."

Valencia 3, Socorro 2

The Class 4A Lady Jaguars took the first two games in their match against the Class 3A Lady Warriors, faltered in losing the next two games and regained their form with a 15-8 win in the decisive fifth game.

"They played beautiful volleyball the first two games," Valencia coach Monique Sanchez said. "We're still trying to figure out what it's going to take to finish teams off. I think it might be a lack of senior leadership."

The Lady Jaguars won the match 25-16, 25-15, 19-25, 25-27 15-8 to improve to 5-9 in their final pre-district tune-up, while Socorro fell to 5-7.

Shanice Lucas led the way for Valencia, posting 13 kills in the match.

The Jaguars had no trouble with the Lady Warriors in the first two games, posting easy victories by nine and 10-point margins.

Socorro charged back in the third game, scoring four straight points to take an 11-7 lead, but the Jaguars responded with five straight points of their own behind the strong serves of setter Melissa Martinez, who had three aces in the run.

However, the Warriors quickly re-established their four-point lead by scoring the next five points, and Valencia couldn't get any closer than 19-17. Socorro closed the game on a 6-1 run, ending it 25-19 on Jessica Pound's ace along the right sideline.

With the momentum then on their side, the Warriors exchanged big scoring runs with the Valencia in a back-and-forth game four that Socorro won 27-25 on back-to-back Jaguar hitting errors.

Middle blocker Roxanne Silva dominated for the Warriors, getting six kills and two aces during the game.

"After the fourth game, I told (the players) that what matters now is this fifth game," Sanchez said. "I said that what I want to see out there is the same energy attitude they came out with in the first two games, and I think that was the difference."

The Jaguars listened to their coach, breaking out of their two-game slump and getting out to an 8-5 lead behind Serena Campos' three early kills.

Socorro couldn't get closer than two, as Valencia finished the match on a 7-2 run, winning 15-8 on a play in which the Warriors couldn't get the ball over the net because of bad passing.

The Jaguars will open District 5-4A play when they host Del Norte on Tuesday at approximately 6:30 p.m. The Lady Knights swept Los Lunas earlier in the season.

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