The Pagosa Springs High School Lady Pirate volleyball team moved to a 1-6 record over the last week after dropping matches to Alamosa and Telluride over the last week.
Now, the Lady Pirates will be looking to turn the tide using confidence and consistency.
“The biggest lessons from the weekend are that we need to bring the confidence we see in practice into matches,” coach Chelsea Caler wrote in an email to The SUN. “Be disciplined in what we can control: talking, putting up tough serves, consistent serve receive and stay aggressive on offense.”
The Lady Pirates took on the Alamosa Mean Moose in Alamosa on Thursday, Sept. 4, to open league play for the season.
The Mean Moose won in three sets — 25-16, 25-8 and 25-10.
Alamosa is currently the No. 2-ranked team in 3A volleyball and is 7-1 on the season.
The Pirates logged 13 kills against the Mean Moose, led by three each from Lexi Campbell, Avea Bruce and Dawson Iverson.
Alamosa notched 44 kills in the matchup.
Bruce logged one serving ace.
The Lady Pirates had two total blocks in the matchup, with Iverson logging a solo block and Sydney Plake and Bruce each putting up an assisted block.
Amber Snarr led the team in digs with five of the team’s 13, with Campbell following with four.
Hayden Petersen put up seven of the team’s nine assists against Alamosa.
Campbell led in serve receiving with 21 of the team’s 59 serve receptions.
“Alamosa is always a solid team that runs a fast tempo, and while they had a couple of big hitters, the real difference in that match came down to our side of the net,” Caler wrote. “We struggled to find consistency in serving, serve receive and swinging with confidence. This made it difficult to generate an aggressive offense and score points. The same was true against Telluride—we broke down, and without steady communication we found ourselves scrambling and second guessing.”
The Lady Pirates fell in three sets to Telluride on Saturday, Sept. 6 — 25-17, 25-19 and 25-23.
But Caler notes, there were highlights against the Telluride Miners.
The coach highlights Kaila Limebrook and Dawson Iverson, noting the Lady Pirates “stepped up offensively with 6 and 7 kills.”
Campbell also recorded seven kills, with the stats noting a total of 24 kills against Telluride, compared to 28 by the Miners.
Campbell and Peterson each picked up a serving ace in the matchup.
The Lady Pirates had two total blocks, with Limebrook and Iverson each putting up a solo block.
Defensively, Caler highlights Domingo, Peterson and Snarr, with each tallying 12 digs. The team totaled 57 digs on the day.
Peterson had 13 of the team’s 17 assists.
Snarr led in serve receiving with 16 receptions, with Tatiana Monterroso following with 14 of the team’s 52.
“We are also starting to see some dynamics click, and ‘aha’ moments between players and their roles, both individually and relationally on the court,” Caler notes.
This week, the Lady Pirates will play three matches over the course of six days, including two league matches.
This evening, Thursday, Sept. 11, at 5:30 p.m., the Lady Pirates will host the 2A Del Norte Tigers.
The Tigers, ranked 18th in the 2A standings, are 3-1 on the season.
On Saturday, Sept. 13, the team will travel to Cortez for a league matchup against the Montezuma-Cortez Panthers beginning at 1 p.m.
The Panthers, ranked 17th in the 3A standings, are 6-4 on the season.
Then, on Tuesday, the Lady Pirates will host the Bayfield Wolverines for a 6 p.m. league matchup.
The Wolverines are ranked 22nd and hold a 4-3 record.
The Lady Pirates are ranked 39th.
“Going into this week with three matches in six days, our main focus will be cutting out the noise and overwhelm,” Caler wrote, adding, “we put a lot of pressure on ourselves. If we can lock in to 1-2 short-term goals—finding consistency, trusting our skills and abilities, rather than trying to be perfect at everything all at once, I’m confident the breakthroughs will come as we keep building.”
randi@pagosasun.com
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