Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Logan players celebrate after topping Ramah in five games to claim the Class 2A title Saturday at the Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho.
RIO RANCHO - It's been a long way coming for coach Robert Young and his Logan Longhorns, but now they can call themselves 2A state volleyball champions. The 'Horns went the full five sets against Ramah on Saturday morning, but prevailed - 20-25, 25-19, 25-19, 24-26 and 15-9 to capture the school's first-ever state title.
"It's special for us," Young said. "It's special for me and it's special for the girls and the community. When I was in Jal, we lost to Tatum in 2005, and just the experience of being here - but this is a lot more special. The trophy's nice, but it's being a champion and being the top one, that feels great."
Tied at 2-2, heading into the deciding fifth set, Logan (21-3) and Ramah (20-3) went back and forth, exchanging the lead four times and tying on five other occasions.
However, it was Longhorns senior middle blocker and outside hitter Kaylee Foote who scored the first five points of the set, and willed her team to victory, as the quick final set was taken by Logan.
"She's tall and she hits really good," Ramah coach Alejandro Rivera said of Foote. "We needed a little more determination, but I'm proud of these girls - they played awesome."
After falling behind, 9-3, in the first set, the Mustangs went on an 11-0 run to take control of the set, and pull away. In set No. 2, Logan flipped the script and went ahead by as many as eight points, before going on to tie the match at 1-1.
The Longhorns pulled away again in the third set, and found themselves just one set victory from a state title - in their first-ever appearance.
However, after going ahead, 20-16, Ramah rallied to take a 24-23 lead, before forcing a fifth set with a 26-24 victory. For Young, the fourth set was nerve-wracking, to say the least.
"I thought, 'uh oh," Young said. "They had a lot of momentum and I knew they'd be hard to beat. Fortunately, we got the ball to Kaylee and then we took the momentum back to us."
In fact, Young said that Foote was unofficially scored at 37 kills - a career high. Ultimately, Logan's length was too much for the smaller Mustangs to handle, as Young went on to say that his 'Horns were at a great advantage when Foote was able to stay in the front row.
As for the championship, Young has now been at Logan for the past six years, and needless to say, there has been a significant turnaround under his watch.
"It's been neat, it's been fun. When I got here, I think the program had won like one game the year before, and two before that," Young explained.
"I had to get them interested in doing summer stuff and camps and get them more interested in the game. But as they kinda had more success, they loved it more."
