New-look Robertson reaches semis
Lady Cardinals steamroll Capital with first-year coach, 2 hitters
For a volleyball team that’s had a little more than two months together, the Las Vegas Robertson Lady Cardinals sure look in midseason form.
Robertson has a new coach and two new hitters to add to an already formidable group, and that was on display Friday afternoon during the Tournament of Champions. The Class 3A Lady Cardinals earned the top seed in Pool A, then steamrolled 5A Capital in the tournament’s gold-bracket semifinals by 25-21, 25-10, 25-5 scores in Toby Roybal Memorial Gymnasium.
The win ensured Robertson will be the only northern team to advance to the semifinal against Gallup at 11 a.m. Saturday. The other side of the bracket has Albuquerque Hope Christian, which beat the host Demons in four games, taking on Los Lunas, which swept Pojoaque.
Santa Fe High will face the Elkettes in a consolation semifinal, while Capital plays Farmington.
As for the Lady Cardinals, they further solidified their status as the team to beat in 3A with their performance, especially with
District 2-3A rival St. Michael’s relegated to the silver bracket at Capital. It’s been an impressive start, considering head coach Vanessa Gonzales was hired at the start of July, giving her two months to get to know her squad.
Gonzales, a West Las Vegas graduate, said it feels like the team has been together for two seasons instead of just months.
“They just really came together,” Gonzzales said. “With the leadership on our team and the talent we have, it’s truly been amazing.”
Gonzales wasn’t the only addition to the program, as she brought along her daughter, 5-foot-10 junior middle hitter Jaylee Gonzales, from Hope Christian. Then, Mistidawn Roybal, who was a mainstay athlete at Pecos, transferred to Robertson over the summer, which gave the program another outside hitter.
Combined with holdovers in senior Jayden Jenkins and Stella Garcia, the Lady Cardinals had a treasure trove of hitters for senior setter Mikaella Sena to use.
“We go two, sometimes three deep in each position,” coach Gonzales said. “The girls, they’re competitive and they know that there’s not necessarily someone to take their spot, but someone who can back them up.”
She pointed that out in Game 3, as Roybal got some playing time in place of Garcia and had at least three kills as Robertson scored the first six points of the match and never looked back.
Meanwhile, the Demons and Elkettes showed they are still trying to work the kinks out of their rotations. Santa Fe High lost six seniors from a team that reached the 5As title match in April, and head coach Josie Adams said it is taking time for the chemistry to form with a new group.
It showed against the Lady Huskies. After winning Game 3 25-21, the Demons led 14-13 in the the following game. Hope Christian, though, followed with a 12-2 closing run as Santa Fe High struggled to slow down the Lady Huskies’ front row attack.
“We haven’t found our steady pace yet,” Adams said. “We will play really, really good for a while, and then we hit a dip. It’s just about keeping the energy going because we have so much talent.”
Pojoaque was missing a key rotation player due to illness, but head coach Joe Rodriguez said his team competed hard against the Lady Tigers. The Elkettes rebounded from a lackluster Game 1, which Los Lunas won 25-14, and the score was tied at 21-all.
However, Los Lunas scored the last four points and went to to take Game 3, 25-17.
“We’re still trying to figure some things out,” Rodriguez said. “We actually ran a 6-2 [offense, in which two setters are used] for the first time, so we’re just trying to make them better.”