SEVERAL MEMBERS OF THE Dolores High School varsity team head off the court looking to regroup after leading in the 6-0 in the third game only to lose it and the Class AA San Juan Basin League match to Mancos High School Tuesday night in DHS Gym. The Blue Jays took an 8-15, 15-11, 15-11 win over favored Dolores. Coming off the court are Jennifer Cross (3), Amanda Cross (12), Kristen Gustafson (10), Joni Everett (2), and Ashley Smith (4).

BY JIM THOMAS
Journal Sports Editor

They have now served notice to the rest of the Class AA San Juan Basin League the Blue Jays have set their sights on a championship, a berth at Regionals and a shot at the State Tournament. While those goals are lofty, they are now certainly reachable.

Mancos High School’s varsity volleyball team came back after being down 1-12 in the first set and then coming back to make it a game at 8-15. After being down in the second set 5-11 the Jays then came storming back to win 15-11. In the third and decisive game, the Jays found themselves down 0-6 before mounting yet another comeback to win 15-11 on Tuesday night, Sept. 18, in Dolores Gym.

"We played a stinky first game," MHS coach Mona Shepherd said following the match. "I don’t know what phrase to use — slow out of the blocks, didn’t get off the bus or whatever — about that first game. Dolores missed Sarah (Nielson, out with left ankle sprain), but Amanda Cross did an outstanding job for them. She gave us fits all night long. We could not time it and she would block us. She threw us off that first game. We finally got a three-man block up and Katie Paxton was the key to that. We then started creeping back."

With Dolores up 2-1 early in the first game, the Bears reeled off three straight points behind the serving of Joni Everett and the outside hitting of Ashley Smith. Dolores, backed by serves of Smith, went to work on the Jays. Cross was dominating play in the middle and Tracy Everett was making nice hits from the right side. Mancos, meanwhile, was making bad passes and hitting the ball either out-of-bounds or into the net. Mancos was soon down 12-1.

Rachel Russell served for an ace and Dolores made an error for a 3-12 score. A few minutes later, the Jays had climbed to 6-12. They continued to peck away at the DHS lead. But DHS finally scored a couple points and were on the brink of winning at 14-8. A net ball by Mancos ended the game.

The Blue Jays definitely had the momentum, which is a big thing in the sport of volleyball.

Dolores jumped to a 3-0 lead in the second set but then things got interesting from that point. The two teams traded many sideouts before the next point would be scored. A nice kill by Tracy Everett put DHS up 6-1 at which point Shepherd called time. Mancos responded with a couple points and another scored another to pull up 4-6. A block by Kristen Gustafson, a kill by Smith and another by Cross put DHS up 9-4 and seemingly back in control. At that point, Mancos started to almost self-destruct by knocking the ball out, carrying it, and knocking it into the net. Trailing 5-11 and after a long series of sideouts, the Jays suddenly caught fire behind the serving of Russell. At the same time, Dolores started making mistakes with bad passes and long hits. The Bears then hit the ball four times twice, the ball long, and one into the net and were called for being out of rotation. By that point, Mancos was up 12-11. The Jays went up 14-11 and then Paxton blocked for the final point and the win.

"When we were behind 0-6, I told Katie (Paxton) that she was just standing around and not getting into the game. I told her I needed her to be a factor. She took over and became a factor and the game changed," Shepherd added.

Behind the serving of Gustafson, the Bears reeled off six straight points to lead 6-0 in the third set. Paxton made an ace and she later came up with a block but MHS still was down 2-6. With Jolene Thomas serving, the Jays tied the contest at 6-6. Two straight kills by Cross put the Bears back up 8-6. The game was tied a few minutes later at 9-9. Again with Thomas at the service line, Mancos rallied and went up[ 12-9. A mistake by Dolores and a kill by Paxton put the Jays ahead 14-9. Dolores took advantage of two MHS miscues to pull within 11-14. It took several sideouts before Paxton put the Bears away with a kill.

She also was quick to point out that Paxton’s success was because of some great sets by Lacey Morris. That combination proved lethal for the Bears. Katie Rosso made some nice hits from the left side and dug up some hard serves and hits from the back, according to Shepherd.

The long drive to Nucla was definitely worth it for the Blue Jays on Sept. 15. MHS opened the 2001 Class AA San Juan Basin League season with a 15-6, 15-8 win over the Mustangs.

Nucla, which advanced to Regionals, had a good team coming back. But five seniors have departed the program, a couple transferring over to Telluride.

In the first game of the best-of-three match, the Blue Jays, "let ‘em in the back door at times. They scored most of their points off our mistakes. We hit the ball into the net or out-of-bounds. But we still maintained control the whole time," Shepherd remarked.

In the second game, the Mustangs got a slight lead early.

"They got some good hits on us. But we got back out front and then won. We really should have won the match a little quicker than what we did," she added.

Shepherd said Jolene Thomas made some nice serves, including several short ones which were hard for the Mustangs to reach. In fact, she said her team missed only two serves the whole match. The Blue Jays averaged five aces per game.

Shepherd was pleased with the outside hitting of Jori Yeomans and Katie Rosso. She also said that Rachel Russell and Katie Paxton played well in the middle.

"We trying to do more triple blocking this year. It’s intimidating. It also blocks the view of the opposing players. They have to hit it a little more softly to get it over and then we can dig it easier and set things up and hit it back," she said.

Dolores opened the loop play by traveling to Norwood and coming away with an easy 15-6, 15-4 win.

"We played pretty well although Nielson sat out with a sprained ankle," DHS coach Joye McHenry reported. "Even with her out, we played well both games. The games did not go long enough to really get us into any type of rhythm. We made some mistakes but they didn’t hurt us."

Dolores County played a valiant road game at non-conference foe Bayfield Tuesday night but were beaten 9-15, 8-15.

In the first game, DCHS led 7-3 but fell behind thanks to a BHS rally which put the Wolverines up 8-7. The Bulldogs would score only one more point the rest of the game.

In the second game, Bayfield reeled off the first four points and then had no problems from that point. DCHS made a couple runs, but that was it.

The Jays will take a break from league play today, Sept. 20, with a trip to Bayfield beginning at 4:30 p.m. It will mark the third time the two teams have played. The Wolverines defeated Mancos in pool play of the annual Lady Jay Tournament but Mancos got revenge and won in the finals of the tournament back on Sept. 8. They return to SJBL play with a home match against Telluride at 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 22. The Bears visit Nucla at 10 a.m. Saturday, and then take a break from league play to battle against the Wolverines at home on Tuesday, Sept. 25. Dolores County hosts SJBL-mate Norwood on Saturday morning in Bulldog Memorial Gym.

Montezuma-Cortez High School takes on a very powerful Monument Valley High School at 7 p.m. today in Kayenta, Ariz. MVHS, winners of the Farmington Invitational for five out of the last seven years, is a multi-state champion in its classification in Arizona.