Saturday, September 27, 2008

Quemado on top in clash of volleyball teams

Nat Holland El Defensor Chieftain Reporter

After taking a break from the court, the Socorro Lady Warriors volleyball team hit the court hard this last week playing three matches in as many days, two of them against other area teams.

Socorro defeated the Magdalena Lady Steers 3-1 on Tuesday, Sept. 23, downed Bernalillo 3-1 on Wednesday and then lost 3-1 to the Quemado Lady Eagles on Thursday.

Magdalena put out a strong performance in the opening game on Tuesday, pulling ahead to an eight-point lead halfway through. Socorro narrowed the gap to as close three points, before Magdalena finished for a 25-20 win.

With Samantha Stidstone serving, the Lady Warriors (5-6) opened with a 7-0 lead in Game 2. Magdalena (6-4, 3-0 District 6-1A) was able to recover enough to tie the game at 14 points a few minutes later. Six serves by Lady Steer Cori Pierson helped put Magdalena up 22-19. Socorro bounced back to win 25-22.

Socorro won games three and four 25-21 and 25-15, respectively.

"That's a big one for us and a confidence booster. They really could have folded after losing the first game, but they had the composure to come back and win," Socorro coach Marleen Greenwood said following the Tuesday game. "It's a nice way to start off a three-game stretch."

The Lady Warriors opened the match against Bernalillo on Wednesday with a pair of wins, lost game three and then finished in the fourth game.

Quemado (8-3), took a slight lead early in its opening game on Thursday and held on to it through the end to win 25-19. Socorro traded points with the Lady Eagles in Game 2, and held the lead late in the game at 16-14 before Quemado turned things around with a six-point run. The Lady Eagles finished 25-18.

"What we did in Game 1 worked well and carried into Game 2," Quemado coach Nichole Sanders said. "In game three we relaxed a bit."

Socorro also cleaned up its play in Game 3 with much better sets and passes. The improved play put more pressure on the Eagles, and gave them less opportunity to set up plays against the Warriors. Socorro won the game 25-20.

"I have enough confidence in our hitters - we can hit with anyone in the state, but we have to get in the situation where we can hit," Greenwood said. "They bust their tails in practice. It's slowly getting better."

Socorro players do a minimum of 250 passes during practices, according to Greenwood.

"Socorro is a totally different team that we met in the first match (in August)," Sanders said, noting the improvement.

Socorro started Game 4 looking strong, and held a five-point lead at 16-11 before the Quemado offense kicked into overdrive. Lady Eagle Ashley Greene served up seven points, Morgan Williams another four, and Keldi McKinley batted the last few over the net to win the match with the final 25-18 win.

"What they did in Game 4 was they had to pick it up - we got in a bit of a slump," Sanders said.

After the busy week, Socorro is off again until Tuesday, Oct. 7, when they travel to play Valencia at 4 p.m.

Quemado hosts Mountainair today (Saturday) at 2 p.m. and then travels to play Ramah on Thursday, Oct. 2 at 4 p.m.

Magdalena, which is in the large six-team District 6-1A, is currently in the middle of district play. It hosted To'Hajilee on Friday (results were unavailable at Chieftain press time) and plays on the road today against Temple Baptist, at 1 p.m. The Lady Steers next host Menaul at home this Friday, Oct. 3, at 5 p.m.

nholland@dchieftain.com

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