Nigh unstoppable
Capital’s star libero Baca has perfect blend of speed, instinct, passing skills
Sometimes in volleyball, there are some balls that nobody on the court is going to get. Mikayla Baca hasn’t met one yet that she didn’t believe she could save.
Baca, a junior libero for the Capital Lady Jaguars, has the kind of speed, instincts and passing skills that make her perfect for her position. Her head coach, Max Vargas, saw the speed when he coached her as an eighthgrader on the junior varsity team. Together, they developed the instincts and the passing.
For the past three years, they developed the perfect beast; one who knows where to be and how to pass the ball to the setter and get the offense going, one who is a three-time All-District 2-5A first-team player. One who is attracting attention from colleges already — New Mexico Highlands University, The University of New Mexico and the University of Texas, among them.
Yet, there are moments in a match in which Vargas has to look away or try to tell Baca as quickly as possible to let an errant ball go. And Baca hasn’t listened to his pleas yet, even if it means running into a row of chairs or, worse, a set of bleachers. Floor burns be damned.
It’s a flirtation with disaster that hasn’t met an ugly end — yet. And it’s all the coaches’ fault: Vargas and assistant coach Gabrielle Vigil, in particular.
“That’s just the way I was taught,” Baca said. “Coach Gabs said, ‘You have to do what you have to do. Nothing hits the floor.’ And that’s just the way I was taught.”
It’s hard to argue with the results. Baca leads Class 5A with 190 digs this season, good enough for a 21.1 per match clip. She also leads the team in serve-receives, having handled 158 saves successfully. Baca