{"id":37997,"date":"2022-10-07T19:50:38","date_gmt":"2022-10-08T01:50:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/volleycats-gain-advantage-in-league-standings\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:41:47","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:41:47","slug":"volleycats-gain-advantage-in-league-standings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/volleycats-gain-advantage-in-league-standings\/","title":{"rendered":"Volleycats gain advantage in league standings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Mancos'
Mancos' Aysia Mathews (8) puts up a block against Ignacio's Harmony Reynolds during SJBL action Thursday inside IHS Gymnasium. (Joel Priest\/Special to the Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Known to pull out De La Soul\u2019s classic party cut \u201cMe, Myself and I\u201d from his musical library during warm-ups or in between games of Ignacio volleyball matches, as was the case Thursday, house emcee Oscar Cosio could have dug deeper into De La\u2019s discography for something of a soundtrack for Thursday\u2019s varsity match.<\/p>\n

With a majority of a relentless student section sporting construction workers\u2019 neon-tinted retroreflective vests for IHS\u2019 homecoming week festivities, \u201cPotholes In My Lawn\u201d would have been a clever choice.<\/p>\n

\"Ignacio
Ignacio High School\u2019s student section was in full voice and costume for the volleyball team's homecoming match versus Mancos on Thursday. (Joel Priest\/Special to the Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cStakes Is High\u201d would also have been good for the Volleycats clash with Mancos. Ignacio was looking to avenge a five-game road loss at MHS on Aug. 30, and in the process gain a head-to-head tiebreaker over the Jays atop the 2A\/1A San Juan Basin League\u2019s 2A-level standings.<\/p>\n

Before the most energized crowd seen inside IHS Gymnasium this season, the \u2019Cats made the reach.<\/p>\n

Behind junior Teya Yeomans and freshman Claire Goodwin, the Jays managed to grab Game 1. But after a Game 2 scare, in which Mancos erased a 12-7 deficit to go up 17-16, Ignacio turned the match completely upside-down. Ignacio regained the lead at 18-17 and never lost the upper hand again to prevail 20-25, 25-21, 25-16, 25-17.<\/p>\n

\"Mancos'
Mancos' Claire Goodwin (11) stuffs Ignacio's Marissa Olguin at the net during SJBL play Thursday inside IHS Gymnasium. (Joel Priest\/Special to the Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cWe\u2019ve been working (toward) this game, you know?\u201d said IHS head coach Shasta Pontine, watching her players rejoice. \u201cThis is the major game, as far as placings for league, and so we just took what we knew from the first time we played them, made ourselves better, and started pinpointing what we could take away from them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Motivated by junior Solymar Cosio\u2019s tip shot past Mancos junior Haylie Higgins, and senior Laci Brunson\u2019s subsequent ace serve ending Game 2, the \u2019Cats (10-7 overall, 6-1 SJBL, 5-1 2A SJBL) allowed MHS (8-5, 4-3, 4-1) to level Games 3 and 4 at 1-1 early, but nothing more. IHS\u2019 Game 3 lead expanded to 19-8 after a Cosio kill, a Cosio block, a key Brunson ace of MHS senior Riley Cannon, and a cross-court spike by senior Trinity Strohl.<\/p>\n

\"Ignacio's
Ignacio's Solymar Cosio, right, gets a fingertip deflection on an attack by Mancos' Teya Yeomans during SJBL action Thursday. (Joel Priest\/Special to the Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Mancos worked through a scare when senior setter Jessie Wallace tweaked her left ankle and was removed from play for a short while, but got no closer than 23-16 when senior \u2019Cat Harmony Reynolds hit long. Reynolds, however, made immediate amends with a harsh cross-court kill, and sophomore Ollyvia Howe all but blew the roof off the building by acing Yeomans on game point.<\/p>\n

Another Reynolds kill and a Reynolds ace of freshman Aysia Mathews got Ignacio \u2013 celebrating junior libero Kacey Brown\u2019s 16th birthday \u2013 out to a 5-1 start in Game 4. A Howe ace highlighted a 6-1 run that increased Ignacio\u2019s lead to 16-9. Mancos head coach Brianna Yeomans-Allison took a timeout with the Jays down 19-13, and MHS responded when Mathews put down two kills to keep the visitors within striking distance at 21-15.<\/p>\n

\"Mancos'
Mancos' Jessie Wallace punches a ball over the net during the Jays' visit to Ignacio on Thursday. (Joel Priest\/Special to the Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

But in the end, a scenario similar to the ending of Game 3 repeated itself in Game 4. Reynolds tooled a kill off Higgins\u2019 block to bring up match point, and Howe then sent over a serve that resulted in a poor first pass to Wallace, who tipped it into the net while trying to surrender a free ball.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe stepped up huge tonight,\u201d Pontine said of Howe. \u201cEvery game she\u2019s getting a little bit better, getting more confidence. She had a great game.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I lose Ollyvia on Saturday,\u201d she continued, looking ahead to an Oct. 8 visit from Nucla (14-4, 5-1 SJBL, 1-1 1A SJBL). \u201cShe has to go to her brother\u2019s wedding, so I\u2019ve got to figure out that piece. But I\u2019m hoping we step in with the momentum we have from tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mancos will host Ridgway on Saturday, then visit 1A SJBLers Norwood three days later.<\/p>\n

\"Ignacio's
Ignacio's Harmony Reynolds pounds the ball through the block of Mancos' Haylie Higgins during SJBL play on Thursday. (Joel Priest\/Special to the Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Ignacio's
Ignacio's Trinity Strohl (9) and Solymar Cosio (20) lead the Volleycats' celebration of a four-game SJBL victory over Mancos on Thursday. (Joel Priest\/Special to the Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Four-game win over Mancos avenges 5-game loss<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37998,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[846,37,345],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-37997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-ignacio-high-school","tag-mancos-high-school","tag-volleyball"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37997","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=37997"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37997\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83873,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37997\/revisions\/83873"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37997"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=37997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}