{"id":44578,"date":"2021-09-23T17:51:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-23T23:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/ignacio-scores-rare-win-over-dolores-3-1\/"},"modified":"2021-09-23T23:51:00","modified_gmt":"2021-09-23T23:51:00","slug":"ignacio-scores-rare-win-over-dolores-3-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/ignacio-scores-rare-win-over-dolores-3-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Ignacio scores rare win over Dolores, 3-1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Ignacio\u2019s
Ignacio\u2019s Alexis Pontine (15) leaps to celebrate a point Tuesday night against Dolores inside IHS Gymnasium. Ignacio\u2019s 3-1 win was the Volleycat program\u2019s first against DHS since September 2016. (Joel Priest\/Special to the Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Her team having just avoided not only a disastrous third-game collapse, but also being swept inside Ignacio High School Gymnasium in the process, Dolores senior Kamri Willbanks knew how crucial her first Game 4 trip to the service line would be if the visitors were to have any chance Tuesday night of forcing a tie-breaking Game 5.<\/p>\n

And after a serve sent long by IHS junior Laci Brunson, trimming the Volleycats\u2019 advantage to 9-6, Willbanks stood behind the stripe with ball in hand \u2013 exactly the situation a setter seemingly would seek.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is the one thing in the game that I know I can control; I just had to get it over,\u201d Willbanks said. \u201cPersonally, I just knew I had to \u2026 get it done. At the beginning of the game we all came together and said we cannot let our energy go down. Like, that is what keeps us up, keeps us pumped.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Dolores'
Dolores' Kamri Willbanks, No. 3, scores Tuesday night against Ignacio with a quickly placed tip shot. (Joel Priest\/Special to the Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Able to hold serve for six points, sandwiched around an Ignacio timeout when the score reached 9-9 after a kill by Dolores\u2019 Mikayla Pruett, Willbanks certainly did her part to swell the visitors\u2019 confidence as the Lady Bears surged ahead. Unluckily, the 12-9 lead would fall under siege and crumble \u2013 unlike a 12-5 lead in Game 3, which somehow survived despite IHS eventually approaching as close as 16-14.<\/p>\n

The \u2019Cats rallied back to tie Game 4 at 13-all and regain a 16-13 upper hand behind junior Grace Gonzales\u2019 serving. And despite Dolores patiently rallying back to within just a point, 21-20, when Gonzales spiked a ball long, Ignacio would sew up a 25-22, 25-16, 19-25, 25-20 victory with an ace by senior Lexy Young, a Gonzales kill off Chandler Smith\u2019s block, and a Young serve unable to be played after its initial deflection.<\/p>\n

Ending a nine-match losing streak against the longtime 2A\/1A San Juan Basin League power, the win was IHS\u2019 first over DHS since Sept. 2016 and improved the program\u2019s head-to-head record against the Lady Bears to 7-25 (postseason clashes included) since joining the SJBL back in \u201908.<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially knowing \u2026 that I don\u2019t think we\u2019d ever beat them while I\u2019ve been in high school \u2013 like, this is the first win for me,\u201d said IHS senior Alexis Pontine. \u201cSo that\u2019s really cool; it was a really exciting night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even if it wasn\u2019t always pretty. Gonzales began the match with a kill, and Ignacio raced out to a 5-1 lead, thanks to a Pontine kill, a Solymar Cosio over-pass block and a Harmony Reynolds service ace. With Dolores (5-6, 3-1 SJBL) not yet hitting on all cylinders or managing to regularly set up attacks for senior weapon Erin Brown, the \u2019Cats (5-2, 4-1) swiftly grew their Game 1 lead to 18-9 on a Pontine block of Nayana Wilderson.<\/p>\n

A later Gonzales roll shot maintained that nine-point margin at 20-11, but after Brown placed a tip shot away from Gonzales, the Lady Bears fought all the way back to 23-21 when IHS head coach Shasta Pontine used her second timeout following an assertive Brown kill.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just have to stay loud and on top of it,\u201d Willbanks said. \u201cIf we lose energy we kind of lose momentum \u2026 don\u2019t play as well. In the first game I think we had a little trouble passing\u2026. With a good pass, there\u2019s a good set, and normally a good kill!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ignacio's
Ignacio's Harmony Reynolds (5) puts up a block against Dolores' Kira Messier (7) during SJBL action Tuesday night inside IHS Gymnasium.(Joel Priest\/Special to the Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Brown\u2019s next attempt flew wide, however, and after Gonzales netted a serve she\u2019d still secure the \u2019Cats a 1-0 match lead when, after Smith served Pontine and Pontine passed successfully to Brunson, Gonzales smacked a kill from out of the back row.<\/p>\n

Able to then erase a 6-3 deficit early in Game 2 and finally forge ahead 8-7, Ignacio would soon ride a 7-1 run out to a 19-11 lead, forcing Dolores skipper Gina Hollen to burn her second timeout in the stanza.<\/p>\n

And though able to stave off game point three times once an unplayable Brunson serve had made the score 24-13, DHS would go down 2-0 in the match when Pontine deftly placed a tip off a Brown block\u2014the sort of standout-vs-standout thinking and execution the Volleycats will hope to employ and utilize Saturday at the Simla Invitational where their known opponents, expected to offer stiff resistance, will be Oak Creek-based Soroco and Kit Carson.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that improves us,\u201d Gonzales said. \u201cWhen we go into bigger, closer games we\u2019re prepared and will be able to make adjustments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having gone 3-0 to win their own late-August tournament, Soroco stood 6-1 overall prior to visiting Simla neighbors Calhan on Friday, and checked in at No. 6 in the Sept. 20 CHSAANow.com Class 2A rankings. Coming off a home loss on the 17th to High Plains League rivals Cheraw, KCHS stood 6-5 overall \u2013 but remained an \u2018Others Receiving Votes\u2019 inclusion in the 1A poll \u2013 prior to hosting non-league 1A Walsh on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, it\u2019s going to be a tough one but I \u2026 feel like we have a really good team,\u201d said Brunson, a libero about a week into her new role as setter due to Kacey Brown recovering from injury. \u201cThere\u2019s lots of talent everywhere and I\u2019m excited.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe definitely need to practice hard; it\u2019s going to be a big tournament,\u201d Alexis Pontine said. \u201cI feel like it\u2019s higher competition than most teams in our league, and that\u2019s exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2019Cats gain major momentum for Simla trip<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44579,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[346,345],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-44578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-sports","tag-volleyball"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44578","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=44578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44578"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=44578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}