Trailing two sets to none and down 8-2 early in Set 3, Telluride still believed Thursday night, Oct. 23, they had something in store for resurgent Class 2A/1A San Juan Basin League heavyweight Dolores.
Fueled by junior Ellarose Aplin’s rare line kill from the outside hitter position and senior Lori Gleria’s improbable tip shot that patched a broken play and dropped in for a point, the Lady Miners battled back to 11-9 – via a Gleria kill off DHS freshman Addyson Wyatt and an airmailed attack by DHS junior Aubree Wyatt.
But after the younger Wyatt muscled down a kill and regained serve for the home team, the guests had no clue what was about to hit them – and effectively end their comeback bid.
Back to the service line went junior Kendall Chavez. After Gleria gifted Dolores a point by zinging a cross-court try out of bounds, Chavez curved an incredible ace over THS’ back row and into the corner nearest the bench. Telluride head coach Lorrie Mahoney quickly called timeout – but the Lady Bears were just getting started.
Aubree Wyatt blasted a kill through Telluride’s deep middle, and Chavez placed another untouched ace nearby. THS sophomore Teagan O’Dell then netted a tip shot, and moments later Chavez fired a knuckleballing ace along the far sideline to where THS sophomore Hazel Noel had no chance to cleanly receive it. Gleria then smacked a one-handed free ball long after an Aubree Wyatt smash caused chaos on the Lady Miners’ side, but Chavez served long – ending a match-breaking eight-point stay.
“From missing a few serves previously, I had to get in my head and tell myself, like, ‘Get these over and in!’” Chavez said.
“Kendall, she’s a gamer and will step up to the competition we have every time,” head coach Brianna Wyatt said.
With the score at 20-10, it was only a matter of time. Mahoney burned her last timeout after senior Delia Noel was blocked by DHS senior Taylor Erautt and junior Madi Thornbrugh, swelling Dolores’ lead to 23-12. After play resumed, Aubree Wyatt downed a kill through Telluride’s center to bring up match point.
DHS freshman libero Layla Mitchell served a gem, hard enough that when THS senior Lillyann Mahoney received it, the ball ricocheted back over the net and Erautt hammered the overpass kill, sealing a 25-20, 25-13, 25-12 sweep – the scorching-hot Lady Bears’ ninth straight win.
“We’d just finished a long road stretch – went to Caliche and went 3-and-0 up there – so having those wins under our belt kind of boosted us,” Wyatt said, recalling the Oct. 18 Caliche Invitational in Logan County. “But it’s still a lot of traveling and so just coming back and trying to regroup … I’m just super-proud of the girls for coming together.”
“It definitely showed us, like, there’s more teams and the competition gets harder the higher up you go,” said Chavez.
Set 1 took some doing. The Lady Miners overcame Dolores’ strong start, fueled by match-opening kills by Chavez and Aubree Wyatt, and built a 12-8 lead, pressing Wyatt into calling timeout. After regaining a 14-13 lead, Dolores (19-1 overall; 10-1 SJBL, 6-1 2A SJBL) never trailed again.
One sequence hinted at whose match it was. Clinging to a 20-18 lead, Aubree Wyatt made a sprawling dig of an Aplin missile targeting the middle of DHS’ back row, then scrambled to her feet to drill a kill, setting off a celebration Mahoney tried muting with a timeout.
“I definitely think plays like that really just get our energy and everything up. Our energy from those great plays shut down the other side,” Chavez said.
Aplin mashed down a kill moments later that Wyatt couldn’t dig, but THS (13-5; 7-4 SJBL, 4-4 2A SJBL) got no closer than 22-20 before back-to-back Chavez kills and a passing error gave Dolores the opening set.
The Lady Bears, helped by a 6-0 burst producing a 21-11 lead, then went wire-to-wire in Set 2, with an Aubree Wyatt tip off a diving Noel and a Thornbrugh block on senior Sonja Rikkers capping it off.
Dolores was next to travel Oct. 24 to the San Luis Valley for a two-fer against Sanford (15-2 overall as of Oct. 23) and Crested Butte Community School (8-9) – both of the 2A Southern Peaks League – but results were unavailable at press time.
“We’ve just got to hold on, keep beating these tougher opponents and prove ourselves with the ‘committee’ that does all these numbers to make (postseason) all work,” Wyatt said.
“I think going to Caliche really helped us prove to whoever’s in charge, that we are competitors down here and that we have a tough league.”
The match to decide the SJBL’s 2025 champ will conclude regular-season play for Dolores. Opposing them Oct. 28 inside the Lady Bears’ lair will be Ignacio – the only squad to defeat DHS this fall. Standing 17-3 overall (10-0 SJBL, 7-0 2A SJBL) as of the 23rd, the Volleycats will be playing the third of four straight away dates – including an Oct. 25 trip to Dove Creek.
