Pecos in hunt for volleyball state title
Last year, Lady Panthers won trophies in other sports but fell short on the court
All it took was a taste for the Pecos volleyball program, and the Lady Panthers want more of it.
The 2018-19 prep season brought unprecedented success to the girls in the school’s athletic program. The Lady Panthers brought home state titles in cross-country and basketball, while almost pulling off the upset of the Class 2A State Volleyball Tournament. They came within two points of putting eventual state champion Texico down two games to none in the semifinals before losing in four games.
While many of the current players on the roster experienced what it was like to bring home a blue trophy in other sports, it left them collectively wanting to make it happen on the volleyball court this season.
“They just want more,” Pecos head coach Monique Herrera said. “They have a problem with losing, so I think that is where their mentality changes. We wind up fighting for” the win.
So far this season, the Lady Panthers haven’t had the disappointment of losing very often. In fact, until losing a game in pool play at the Santa Fe Indian School Pink Classic tournament on Friday, Pecos was unblemished in the L side of the ledger. On Saturday morning, the team suffered its first loss when Moriarty won the gold bracket semifinal with a 25-12, 25-18, 25-11 sweep. The Lady Pintos went on to win the title by sweeping Estancia.
The Lady Panthers rebounded in the afternoon, beating the host Lady Braves in convincing fashion with a 25-21, 25-21, 25-19 sweep to take third place. With the win, Pecos improved to 9-1 for the second straight season and has lived up to its billing as the third-ranked team in 2A, according to the New Mexico Overtime Sports coaches poll.
As great as the season has been so far, the Lady Panthers acknowledge that their sights are set sky high.
“We know what it feels like to win”
state titles, said senior outside hitter Sativa Herrera, who is one of three daughters Monique Herrera coaches on the varsity. “So, it makes us push even more.”
Coach Herrera said that was apparent during the summer workouts, as she saw more participation from players to get ready for the season. It wasn’t always consistent, but she felt it set the tone for the season.
“The ones who showed up, they got a lot better over the summer,” Monique Herrera said. “We got ahead of the curve, and we want to stay ahead of it and keep on starting [the off-season workouts] at an earlier time because it really benefits us.”
If it showed in any area, it was in the front row. Last year, Pecos relied heavily on 2019 graduate Faith Flores and Sativa Herrera to carry the load at the net. This year, Pecos is getting help from sister Trinity Herrera, who went from full-time setter last year to a part-time role this fall, as well as Kianna Quintana, Mistidawn Roybal and Desiree Sena.
The more diverse attack make it harder for opposing defenses to focus their blocks on one player. Sativa Herrera added that the offseason work improved the Lady Panthers’ own block, which benefits a back row that already is solid.
“That helps a lot because it slows balls down, and we can gain control and set what we want to do,” Sativa Herrera said.
The morning semifinal against the Lady Pintos presented the age-old problems that many small schools share — that is, sharing athletes. Pecos was without six varsity players as they competed at its own Ron Valdez Memorial Invitational crosscountry meet, finishing second. Coach Herrera said she had to rely on several junior varsity players to fill those roles.
“It was a lot of nerves, and a lot of them were coming out of JV,” coach Herrera said. “It was a different level, and they experienced that.”
With the full team in the afternoon, the Lady Panthers made a living off of the Lady Braves’ mistakes while limiting their own. Trinity Herrera led the hitting attack with five kills and she dished out seven assists, while Sativa Herrera served a pair of aces. Alexia Herrera, the third sister in the group and a freshman who shares setting duties with Trinity, had four blocks and four assists.
Whenever SFIS (2-7) crept to within a couple of points, Pecos always answered with a run to retake momentum.
“I think our loss [to Moriarty] made us realize we needed to work as a team,” Trinity Herrera said. “[SFIS] kept us on our toes.”
As for the Lady Braves, a good Friday gave away to a sloppy Saturday as they never recovered from their five-game semifinal loss to Estancia.
“That second game, we were up and we just stopped being aggressive,” SFIS head coach Brian Gurule said. “We got passive, and that was the key. If we had stayed aggressive, we’d have beaten them.”
In other tournament action:
SILVER BRACKET
Third place
SOCORRO 3, SANTA FE PREP 1
The Blue Griffins had their chances to take control of the match in the first two games, but their win in Game 3 merely prolonged the Lady Warriors’ 25-21, 25-22, 23-25, 25-14 win. Prep (3-5) came off a tough semifinal loss to Navajo Prep, which the Lady Eagles won 25-14, 25-18, 25-14 before getting swept by Laguna Acoma for the silver bracket title.
“The effort wasn’t there against Navajo Prep, and we’re going to see them again at some point” in the season, Santa Fe Prep head coach Kiran Bhakta said. “When they want to play, they can play. I mean, they showed it against Socorro.”