The Pagosa Springs High School Lady Pirate volleyball team went into Tuesday’s league matchup with the Montezuma-Cortez Panthers with an adjusted lineup and defensive changes in effect, with coach Chelsea Caler noting after the match the changes are “starting to click” for the team, despite the Lady Pirates falling in three sets to the Panthers.
The Panthers won the first set 25-21, and the following two 25-16.
Ahead of the match, Caler explained the team was dialing in its defense, making personnel changes on the court and shifting into a rotational defense.
The team was also looking to have fun, focus on consistent serve receiving, cut down on forced errors, and be aggressive and swing more at the ball.
“When we’re on, we do a lot of really great things, and you could see that in this match,” Caler wrote in an email to The SUN. “The lineup and defensive changes we’ve been working on are starting to click, and it showed—we’re playing a much stronger brand of volleyball. Now the next step is finding consistency in those good things.”
Caler highlights the work of the Lady Pirates’ middles in the match.
“Our middles are working incredibly hard and getting a ton of touches on the block, which is huge,” she wrote. “The challenge now is making sure we’re ready to pick up those balls coming off the block and turn them into scoring opportunities. I loved seeing us take more swings and really compete.”
Offensively, Lexi Campbell led the team with eight kills, according to Caler, with Dawson Iverson and Avea Bruce notching five each.
The coach also highlights the team’s defense in the matchup, stating, “Defensively, Kaila [Limebrook], Amber [Snarr], and Charity [Domingo] played strong—each of them picked up double digits in digs, and we played with a scrappy edge that was so much fun to watch.”
Caler adds that Dawson Iverson, “ who just moved to the outside this week, came up big with three blocks.”
Additional stats were not available by press time.
Caler indicates that, despite the loss, the team’s coaches saw positives in the match.
“Even though the score didn’t quite reflect the positives us coaches saw last night, we’re trending in the right direction,” she wrote. “We’ll continue fine-tuning these changes so we can be aggressive on defense against Alamosa and really swing away on our out-of-system plays. The big focus now is cutting down our errors to keep momentum on our side, but overall, I’m really encouraged by the progress we’re making.”
The Lady Pirates will take on the Alamosa Mean Moose — the No. 1 team in Colorado’s 3A standings — at 6 p.m. today, Thursday, Oct. 2, at Pagosa Springs High School.
The Mean Moose are 14-1 on the season and are 5-0 in league action.
The Lady Pirates are 2-11 on the season and are still seeking their first league win.
On Tuesday, Oct. 7, the Lady Pirates will take a break from league play to take on the 4A Durango Demons, who are 4-12 on the season.
