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The Class A tournament took place in Rio Rancho and Bernalillo from Nov. 13-15. Matches were played at Bernalillo High School and Cleveland High School in Rio Rancho. The Final Four matches were at the Rio Rancho Events Center.
Alamo Lady Cougars
The Alamo Lady Cougars finished up their regular season as Class A District 3 champions after going undefeated in their district at 8-0 and 16-4 overall. That first place in their district earned them a trip to the New Mexico State volleyball tournament.
Alamo came into the tournament seeded #10 out of the 12 teams. Their first match was against the #7 seed Springer Red Devils on Thursday, Nov. 13, at Bernalillo High School. The Lady Cougars started out a bit slow and lost the first set. They improved a bit for the next two sets, but Springer stayed ahead of them and won 3-0: 25-13, 25-19 and 25-19.
It wasn’t how they wanted to start out their tournament run, but the tournament is double-elimination and so they had another chance.
“I was talking to them about them being resilient. They can be resilient when they want to be. They're a team. They're great. They've utilized the skills throughout the whole season. They just got to come back mentally tough, and we've been working on that all season…their mental toughness.” Head Coach Lyndy Torres said.
The next match for Alamo was against the #8 seed Des Moines Demons on Friday, Nov. 14, at Bernalillo H.S. again. The first rounds of the tournament saw no upsets based on the teams’ seedings, and so it went for the Lady Cougars. The higher ranked Des Moines team took control of the match and held it to win 3-0: 25-18, 25-14 and 25-19.
“I think the stage fright, pressure of state just kind of got in their heads.” Torres said.
Some Lady Cougars reflected on how they could’ve played better, some had some tears, and others seemed happy about the journey and simply being there. The team gathered after the match, and they talked about the positive moments and how to move forward.
“As far as some exercises that we worked on, whether it was physically on the floor or mentally, I did talk to the girls about taking that into the season of basketball, because most of them will play basketball, taking it into track,” Torres said.
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Throughout the season, Torres consistently worked with her players on strategies and skills that apply to life off the court as well.
“But not just into sports, but taking into their life, in their homes and their school academics. It is for them to use that to grow stronger, be better and be prepared for when they graduate and they go out into the world. Whether that's college or the workforce, I don't want them to struggle socially, professionally. I want them to be strong, be confident, and be able to stand up for what they need to stand up for.” Torres said.
Looking forward, the team only had two seniors, Tisha Mexicano and Dora Dominguez, who will be moving on. That shows that Alamo has a young team that looks to be competitive in the coming years.
“Next year, I think we're gonna have a really great team. Next year we have some young ones that have pretty high athletic IQ overall, that can kind of pick up games pretty easily. I talked to them this morning about being leaders, about what leadership takes, no matter how young they are. They have a really great relationship with each other, so they'll come back stronger next year.” Torres said.
Several players, coaches, families, and fans stuck around to watch Quemado play the next match after them.
Quemado Lady Eagles
Quemado came into the tournament ranked #4 in Class A. That gave them a bye in the first round, and then they faced the #5 Gateway Christian Warriors on Thursday, Nov. 13, in Bernalillo. Quemado lost a close first set, but then took control to win the next three and win 3-1: L 25-23, W 25-18, W 25-17 and W 26-24.
The win set up their first match against the #1 Melrose Buffaloes. Melrose won easily 3-0: 25-15, 25-21 and 25-17. Like last year, The Lady Eagles lost their second match of the tournament and got bumped to the losers’ bracket.
However, like last year, the Lady Eagles took advantage of their second chance and fought their way back to the top. Quemado beat #6 Roy/Mosquero 3-2 (L 25-21, W 25-19, L 26-24, W 25-14 and W 15-9) in a close one on Friday, Nov. 14. Then they rolled on past #2 Logan with a 3-0 win on Saturday, Nov. 15: 25-20, 25-18 and 25-22. That set them up for the rematch against #1 Melrose in the finals.
The Lady Eagles team that showed up on Saturday was a more focused and energized team than the version that faced Melrose the day before. They were determined to make their second chance count.
“Quemado owned the court.” Socorro volleyball Head Coach Carmen Marquez said, who was in attendance as a spectator.
Marquez also mentioned the dominant performance by #2 Chancie Pergeson, the middle for the Lady Eagles who had numerous blocks during the match to shut down the Melrose attacks. Pergeson is also a freshman, meaning that this young team likely has more great years to come.
Quemado beat Melrose as soundly as Melrose had beaten Quemado previously in the tournament, and Quemado won the one that really counted 3-0: 25-14, 25-20 and 25-21.
In a tournament that had seen no upsets in the early rounds, the Lady Eagles soared back to upset two higher-seeded teams on their way to a second straight Class A State Championship.
