The Pagosa Springs High School Lady Pirate volleyball team stretched its first home matchup of the season to five sets on Saturday, Aug. 30, ultimately dropping the affair to the 2A Sanford Mustangs.
“We came out excited and ready to play, especially in front of our home crowd,” coach Chelsea Caler wrote in an email to The SUN. “The girls brought great energy, and the match was competitive and fun to both coach and watch.”
The Lady Pirates won the first set 25-19 before dropping a close second set 26-24. Sanford also claimed the third set 25-19 before the Lady Pirates rebounded 25-19 in the fourth set to push the affair to a fifth set. Sanford took the final set 15-11, giving the Mustangs the 3-2 win on the day.
“What stood out most to me was the presence and confidence we showed on the court,” Caler wrote. “Losing is never fun, but I’m really proud of how we battled and all the good things we accomplished.”
Some of those good things, Caler indicates, are that the team “looked cohesive and locked in.”
She adds, “Our blockers did a great job getting touches at the net, and that helped us stay in long rallies.”
Offensively, she notes, Dawson Iverson led the Lady Pirates with 11 kills, and Lexi Campbell added nine.
“Our setters, Hayden Peterson and Charity Domingo, are really stepping up and starting to run the offense with confidence, which will be key in the coming weeks,” Caler adds.
The coach also highlights that, on defense, “Lexi led the team with 21 digs and Tatiana [Monterroso] was close behind with 18, along with Hayden and Amber Snarr with many digs and saves. That kind of hustle kept us in the match.”
The Lady Pirates now own a 1-4 record.
Caler explains the matchup was “a good place to start the season, but now it’s about fine-tuning. We need to work on our out-of-system communication — how we respond when the pass or play doesn’t go as planned. Getting our hitters into a better rhythm so they can swing with more confidence, and variety is another focus. We also want to cut down on errors that are within our control. With some of our younger players, it’s about helping them settle into their roles so they can make a bigger impact.”
The Lady Pirates will work on fine-tuning as they open league play this evening, Thursday, Sept. 4, against the Alamosa Mean Moose.
The Mean Moose are 5-1 on the season and sit as the No. 11 team in the rankings. They entered the season as the No. 3 team in the coaches’ poll.
Following that matchup, which will begin at 6:30 p.m. in Alamosa, the team will travel to Telluride on Saturday, Sept. 6, for a 1 p.m. matchup with the Miners.
The 2A Miners are 3-1 on the season.
“This week our focus is on continuing to improve our blocking and defense and speeding up our reaction time,” Caler wrote. “Offensively, we want to find more ways to score points and become more consistent. Overall, it’s about discipline on the little things and developing better court awareness so we can make smarter choices in key moments.”
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