{"id":31899,"date":"2023-09-07T20:21:55","date_gmt":"2023-09-07T20:21:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/jays-cats-seek-benefits-from-latest-battle\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T07:48:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:48:16","slug":"jays-cats-seek-benefits-from-latest-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/jays-cats-seek-benefits-from-latest-battle\/","title":{"rendered":"Jays, \u2019Cats seek benefits from latest battle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Ignacio
Ignacio freshman Kelly Sirios sets senior Solymar Cosio during the Volleycats' pool-play finale versus Black Hawk-based Gilpin County on Saturday at the West Grand Invitational up in Kremmling. (Joel Priest\/Special to the Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Did Mancos\u2019 Jays really need extra motivation to prepare for Montezuma County rival Dolores\u2019 visit on Thursday?<\/p>\n

Regardless of the outcome, no.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s what Brianna Yeomans-Allison\u2019s crew gained via a whale of a rematch against fellow SJBL contenders Ignacio this past Saturday, with the two-day West Grand Invitational\u2019s top prize at stake.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, I think we were kind of expecting it,\u201d MHS\u2019 head coach said, prior to departing to distant Kremmling. \u201cBut they challenge us all the time and so it\u2019s good for our young players to see that, and learn how to battle and fight through adversity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo San Juan Basin teams in the championship? It was pretty exciting,\u201d said senior Teya Yeomans. \u201cI think that kind of shows \u2026 the San Juan Basin\u2019s (one of) the best leagues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having swept the event-hosting Mustangs (25-13, 25-12, 26-24), Peyton (25-14, 25-21, 27-25) and Sanford (25-13, 28-26, 25-19) to reach the finale, Mancos managed to outlast the Volleycats 25-20, 28-30, 26-24, 25-20 in a thrilling clash which sadly more fans from the southwest didn\u2019t get to witness.<\/p>\n

\"Mancos
Mancos sophomore Aysia Mathews looks to dump a set as Ignacio's Ollyvia Howe observes during the teams' battle this past Saturday for first place at the West Grand Invitational up in Kremmling. (Joel Priest\/Special to the Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cWe knew we were going to match up with them,\u201d said IHS head coach Jennifer Seibel. \u201cAnd it was a nail-biter! Oh my goodness!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were in different pools \u2026 but played for the championship,\u201d IHS senior Maci Barnes said. \u201cIt was really intense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yeomans smashed a reported 22 kills in the victory, lifting the Jays \u2013 who rose to No. 2 in the MaxPreps rankings for Class 2A, and to No. 9 out of all classes \u2013 to 7-0 overall (2-0 SJBL). Sophomore Claire Goodwin downed nine kills, while senior Haylie Higgins and freshman Bailey Beh each landed seven.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaylie\u2019s a key piece of our offense. We\u2019re really relying on her a lot \u2013 everybody, really \u2013 but when she\u2019s engaged we\u2019re unstoppable, in my opinion,\u201d Yeomans-Allison said. \u201cWe have her and Teya opposite one another and \u2026 we need them both playing their parts in order for us to be successful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also got a lot from Claire; she\u2019s a competitor and she\u2019s going to go wherever we need her to,\u201d she continued. \u201cAt the beginning we used her as our second setter when we were running a 6-2, but things weren\u2019t going quite the way we wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTeya and Claire are amazing, ready at all times, but it\u2019s nice being always able to rely on everyone,\u201d said MHS\u2019 primary setter, sophomore Aysia Mathews (36 assists) \u201cOur outsides, middles, right-sides, back row \u2013 they can put the ball anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Returning to the Pine River Valley standing No. 9 in 2A according to MaxPreps\u2013Ignacio (5-2, 0-1 SJBL) will next compete on Saturday at the Denver Christian Invitational still plenty energized over having swept Fairplay-based South Park (25-10, 25-9, 25-15), Cedaredge (25-11, 25-23, 25-16) and Black Hawk-based Gilpin County (25-12, 25-14, 25-19) at WGHS.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe difference between Saturday and last Tuesday was our mindset out of our comfort zone,\u201d Seibel said, alluding to an Aug. 29 home loss to Mancos. \u201cI\u2019m trying to work with the girls to make them feel comfortable when they\u2019re not in their element.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d had a really good week of practice, and so \u2026 I think we did a lot better,\u201d she continued. \u201cThey\u2019re just a great team, and our goal was just to take a set or two off them. We didn\u2019t have those first-game jitters that we\u2019d had, and we were in a neutral spot so it kind of had that sense of no one having the upper hand, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we did better than our last (Mancos) match; I think we really improved,\u201d IHS senior Darlyn Mendoza-Lechuga said. \u201cNow we just have to keep practicing and keep going as a whole.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the DC Invite in Lakewood, the \u2019Cats will first face the hosting Thunder at 10:30 a.m.<\/p>\n

West Grand Invitational<\/div>\n

First-place match \u2013 Mancos def. Ignacio 3-1; Third-place match \u2013 Sanford def. Cedaredge 3-1; Fifth-place match \u2013 Gilpin County def. Peyton 3-1; Seventh-place match \u2013 West Grand def. South Park 3-0.<\/p>\n

\"Ignacio
Ignacio senior Kacey Brown leaps to block Mancos' Claire Goodwin during the teams' showdown in the first-place match at the West Grand Invitational Saturday in Kremmling. (Joel Priest\/Special to the Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The
The Mancos Jays remained unbeaten in the 2023 season after outlasting Ignacio 3 games to 1 in the West Grand Invitational's championship match on Saturday in Kremmling. (Joel Priest\/Special to the Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SJBLers vie for West Grand tourney title in rematch<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31900,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1877,846,37],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-31899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-high-school-volleyball","tag-ignacio-high-school","tag-mancos-high-school"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31899"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31899\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81604,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31899\/revisions\/81604"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31899"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=31899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}