Known to pull out De La Soul’s classic party cut “Me, Myself and I” from his musical library during warm-ups or in between games of Ignacio volleyball matches, as was the case Thursday, house emcee Oscar Cosio could have dug deeper into De La’s discography for something of a soundtrack for Thursday’s varsity match.
With a majority of a relentless student section sporting construction workers’ neon-tinted retroreflective vests for IHS’ homecoming week festivities, “Potholes In My Lawn” would have been a clever choice.
“Stakes Is High” would also have been good for the Volleycats clash with Mancos. Ignacio was looking to avenge a five-game road loss at MHS on Aug. 30, and in the process gain a head-to-head tiebreaker over the Jays atop the 2A/1A San Juan Basin League’s 2A-level standings.
Before the most energized crowd seen inside IHS Gymnasium this season, the ’Cats made the reach.
Behind junior Teya Yeomans and freshman Claire Goodwin, the Jays managed to grab Game 1. But after a Game 2 scare, in which Mancos erased a 12-7 deficit to go up 17-16, Ignacio turned the match completely upside-down. Ignacio regained the lead at 18-17 and never lost the upper hand again to prevail 20-25, 25-21, 25-16, 25-17.
“We’ve been working (toward) this game, you know?” said IHS head coach Shasta Pontine, watching her players rejoice. “This is the major game, as far as placings for league, and so we just took what we knew from the first time we played them, made ourselves better, and started pinpointing what we could take away from them.”
Motivated by junior Solymar Cosio’s tip shot past Mancos junior Haylie Higgins, and senior Laci Brunson’s subsequent ace serve ending Game 2, the ’Cats (10-7 overall, 6-1 SJBL, 5-1 2A SJBL) allowed MHS (8-5, 4-3, 4-1) to level Games 3 and 4 at 1-1 early, but nothing more. IHS’ Game 3 lead expanded to 19-8 after a Cosio kill, a Cosio block, a key Brunson ace of MHS senior Riley Cannon, and a cross-court spike by senior Trinity Strohl.
Mancos worked through a scare when senior setter Jessie Wallace tweaked her left ankle and was removed from play for a short while, but got no closer than 23-16 when senior ’Cat Harmony Reynolds hit long. Reynolds, however, made immediate amends with a harsh cross-court kill, and sophomore Ollyvia Howe all but blew the roof off the building by acing Yeomans on game point.
Another Reynolds kill and a Reynolds ace of freshman Aysia Mathews got Ignacio – celebrating junior libero Kacey Brown’s 16th birthday – out to a 5-1 start in Game 4. A Howe ace highlighted a 6-1 run that increased Ignacio’s lead to 16-9. Mancos head coach Brianna Yeomans-Allison took a timeout with the Jays down 19-13, and MHS responded when Mathews put down two kills to keep the visitors within striking distance at 21-15.
But in the end, a scenario similar to the ending of Game 3 repeated itself in Game 4. Reynolds tooled a kill off Higgins’ block to bring up match point, and Howe then sent over a serve that resulted in a poor first pass to Wallace, who tipped it into the net while trying to surrender a free ball.
“She stepped up huge tonight,” Pontine said of Howe. “Every game she’s getting a little bit better, getting more confidence. She had a great game.”
“But I lose Ollyvia on Saturday,” she continued, looking ahead to an Oct. 8 visit from Nucla (14-4, 5-1 SJBL, 1-1 1A SJBL). “She has to go to her brother’s wedding, so I’ve got to figure out that piece. But I’m hoping we step in with the momentum we have from tonight.”
Mancos will host Ridgway on Saturday, then visit 1A SJBLers Norwood three days later.
