Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Tucumcari's Lenora Trujillo and Aaliyah Brown try to block a spike by Dexter's Nayeli Cabos, far left, during a volleyball match Thursday at the Snake Pit in Tucumcari.
The Tucumcari volleyball squad emerged triumphant in its first district game of the season Thursday by defeating a young and inexperienced Dexter team 25-17, 25-11, 25-21 during the Lady Rattlers' annual Think Pink match in tribute to women's cancer survivors.
Tucumcari improved to 4-13 overall. Dexter dropped to 2-16 and 0-2 in district play. Both teams wore specially made Think Pink jerseys for the match.
With the Lady Demons fielding only three seniors and struggling to run a basic offense, the match early on left little doubt which team would prevail. Tucumcari took leads of 19-12 in the first game and 16-2 in the second. Even in the close third game, an early Dexter lead proved fleeting.
"We've got very little varsity experience," Dexter coach Lisa Granados said. "I feel like it's a rebuilding year for us. We just have to keep working, keep working, keep working."
Tucumcari coach Dena Benavidez acknowledged her players struggled somewhat to get into a rhythm because their opponent was overmatched, and she talked to her team before the match on how to cope.
"We want to play up to our full potential," Benavidez said. "We told our girls, 'Don't play down to their level; always play up.'"
Benavidez said she was pleased with her team's play overall.
"Our hustle was phenomenal," she said. "Even balls that were hit into the net, we were digging them out. Our setters used all their hitters and gave them an opportunity to hit tonight."
Before the varsity game, the Lady Rattlers and Lady Demons lined up to form a tunnel near a gym entrance, and members of the Tucumcari squad escorted nine area cancer survivors to the floor amid applause and high-fives from the players. The women also received a pink flower.
The cancer survivors saluted were Jan Wallace, Kaylene Jones, Shedra Hall, Mary Guillen, Judy Martinez, Marcie Marroquin, Evelyn Otero, Jean Taylor and Carol Arias. The ceremony was performed in honor of the late Joann Lopez, Jeanette Jimenez and Billie Jo Burlbaw.
Proceeds from a bake sale at the Snake Pit also went to Jean Taylor, who is battling cancer.
Tucumcari's next match is another district clash starting at 1 p.m. Saturday at Tularosa (14-2, 1-0), which is ranked third in Class 3A in New Mexico.
