Demonettes still in it
Santa Fe High overcomes early overconfidence, lack of focus to beat Capital, stay in district race
The Santa Fe High Demonettes’ challenge over the second half of the District 5-5A season has come from within.
When the Demonettes waltzed through the first half of the district season without dropping a single, everything seemed to come to them so easily. But that has been the problem as they hit the home stretch. Overconfidence and a lack of focus were the gremlins Santa Fe High battled, and they reared their heads for a moment Tuesday night.
Facing Capital as it played its “senior night” 5-5A match in Edward A. Ortiz Memorial Gymnasium, the Demonettes struggled to match the Lady Jaguars intensity level to start, but found their rhythm after that as they continued their collision course with Albuquerque Sandia for a playoff to determine the top seed in the district tournament with a 19-25, 25-15, 25-17, 25-20 win.
Santa Fe High and Sandia each improved to 8-1 in 5-5A play and if they win their district finales Thursday —the Demonettes play Albuquerque Rio Grande, while the Lady Matadors take on Albuquerque High — it will set up a playoff Nov. 5 at Rio Rancho Cleveland, according to Assistant
Superintendent Larry Chavez.
Salome Romp, Santa Fe
High’s senior outside hitter, said the team understands how it needs to play the rest of the season after Sandia swept the rematch Oct. 22. It followed that with a tough five-game win over Albuquerque Manzano at home, and the road to a district title became a little bumpier than expected.
“Based on that match, we have the passion to know that we don’t ever want to lose again,” Romp said. “We are playing now like it’s our last match of the year.”
That appeared true for most of the last three games, but the Demonettes seemed to go through the motions in Game 1. Capital rallied from a 15-11 deficit and outscored Santa Fe High 14-4 the rest of the way thanks to inspired blocking at the net and some timely kills from Rebecca Sorensen (two), Ethena Silva (one) and Jeraldine de los Santos (one), Capital scored seven of the last eight points to take the game.
“Our game plan all this week was blocking,” said Capital head coach Max Vargas. “We concentrated on it and practiced it. We did well, but …”
There is always a “but” with the hard-hitting and varied Demonettes attack. It showed up again as four players had at least nine kills, and Romp, who missed last week’s match at Albuquerque Manzano with the flu, led the way with 15.
Capital struggled at times to pick the right hitter to defend, and when it chose poorly, Santa Fe High’s front row made the Lady Jaguars pay.
“[Tuesday] was a lot better,” said Demonettes head coach Josie Adams. “There were a lot of good things that happened. We wanted to stay in control more, and we did that in Game 2 and Game 3.”
In Game 2, a combination of sensational serving by Laila Bernardino and kills from four different players during a 7-0 run helped the Demonettes build a 15-6 lead. Bernardino pulled off the trick again in Game 3, as she served seven straight points that turned an 8-4 lead into a 15-4 monster. Romp led the way with three kills, and when setter Courtney Brookover caught the Capital defense sleeping with a dump kill, the margin was 11 points.
“The tips just went over the block or found holes,” Vargas said.
Just when it seemed like Santa Fe High was about to put an exclamation mark on the win, it hit some chippy waters. The main culprit was poor serving as the Demonettes recorded 14 errors — many of them were missiles into the net. Adams said that was a reflection of a lack of focus.
“Our service errors were the worst we ever had,” Adams said. “We’ve never missed 14 serves in a game. But we’ll just get back to being aggressive with our serves and not being scared. Serves into the net are people playing without focus and being afraid.”
There were four service errors in Game 4, and it allowed Capital to hang around and make things interesting. When Brookover sailed her serve long, the Lady Jaguars were within 18-16, but the defense again couldn’t account for all the hitters. Jorja “Joey” Chambers was the loose cannon at the net as she pounded home consecutive kills to make it 20-16 and the crisis was averted. Chambers had 13 kills and has grown into a force in the middle.
It allowed senior Ainsley Reynolds-Smith to move to an outside hitter position and she has flourished in her new role as well, finishing the match with nine kills.
While it appears likely that Santa Fe High and Sandia will meet in a playoff, Chambers said the team cannot take that for granted.
“We can’t get too cocky,” Chambers said. “We have to keep our minds open and play as hard we as can every single point and every single match.”