Lady Jags slip into high gear
Capital rediscovers its speed, sweeps Demonettes
Speed was the buzzword for the past week for the Capital Lady Jaguars. Opening night for the 2017 volleyball season on Aug. 23 was a bit of a disaster, and all the signs that led to a sweep at the hands of St. Michael’s that night pointed to tempo. Capital was slow, tentative and lackadaisical — everything head coach Max Vargas didn’t want his team to be.
“Everything has to be quicker,” Vargas said. “Every set has to be fast. Defensively, we have to be moving our feet all of the time. Always be ready for anything.”
On Wednesday, the Lady Jaguars were speed demons, and it sent Santa Fe high into a tailspin in a nondistrict match in Edward A. Ortiz Memorial Gymnasium. Capital swept the Demonettes 25-21, 25-22, 25-20 to atone for last week’s hiccup, and looked like the team opponents saw during the summer.
Santa Fe High head coach Sam Estrada, though, something familiar with the way his team played against the Lady Jaguars (1-1).
“I think we’re playing like they played last week,” Estrada said. “Maybe it was the atmosphere that got to them, the pressure. Capital played like that this summer, and we knew they were a good team. And we played better this summer, but we just couldn’t get it going psychologically [Wednesday].”
The Lady Jaguars also played with a sense of urgency at key moments, especially late in each game. They used a combination of quick tempo, a cat-quick defense and patience to outlast the Demonettes (1-1). With the score tied at 20-all in Game 3, the two teams battled through a long rally when Santa Fe High outside hitter Adonica Baca-Martinez tipped a shot to what appeared to be an open court.
But Capital outside hitter Gaby Ornelas, doing her best impersonation of a defensive specialist, dove and dug the hit back to setter Maya Wero, who promptly set middle hitter Jennifer Pierce for a tip kill that gave the Lady Jaguars a 21-20 lead. It started a crucial fourpoint run that gave Capital the cushion it needed.
“It was just a reaction thing,”
Ornelas said. “I just saw the ball and went for it. That’s been something [the coaches] have been working with all of us. Everyone plays every position. Everybody needs to be able to do something, so I saw it and thought, ‘I am not letting this ball hit the floor.’ ”
That is a part of the jack-of-alltrades mentality Vargas wants from his team. Capital is not blessed with that one outstanding player that rises above the rest — although junior libero Mikayla Baca might come close to that distinction with her passing skills in the back row — so everybody does their part to contribute. For Wero, that means spreading the ball around to as many hitters as possible in a variety of ways.
The offense calls for her to use quick sets, dump the ball when the defense is ready for a set and sometimes become a hitter herself. She had four kills, with one of them coming on a swing off a pass that landed just inside the left sideline in Game 2 for a 13-10 Capital edge.
It was a bit of redemption for the senior, who started her first varsity match since she was a sophomore at Santa Fe Indian School against the Lady Horsemen. Wero played with the junior varsity last season as she was ruled ineligible for varsity play when she transferred to Capital. She struggled to find a rhythm against St. Michael’s and it slowed down the Capital offense. Wero spent the practices since them improving her timing and finding the right speed at which to play.
“All of us were nervous [against St. Michael’s] and I was nervous coming up from jayvee,” Wero said. “Last year threw me off. Going back up to that high pace, it was hard to transfer to that.”
Wero found her pace against Santa Fe High, dishing out 28 assists. No Lady Jaguar reached double figures in kills, with Ornelas recording nine, Sofia Garcia eight and Ishara Sorensen had six to go with three blocks. As great as the distribution was, Vargas said variety also was important to Capital’s success.
“We gotta mix everything,” Vargas said. “Whoever hits, you can’t hit in the same place twice. That’s what we’re looking for.”
Salome Romp had 23 kills to lead Santa Fe High, while BacaMartinez added seven. But the Demonettes had no aces on the night, and no blocks at the net. It was indicative of how well Capital passed and set throughout the match.
“It seemed like everything we hit at them, they would get at, somehow,” Estrada said. “Some good plays and some lucky plays happened, but that’s with everybody. They played well and they deserved to win.”
As long as the Lady Jaguars keep moving — and quickly at that.