Grady/San Jon ends season 13-11 overall

Grady/San Jon saw its season come to an end Friday with a 25-17, 25-14, 25-17 loss to Melrose in the Class 1A volleyball quarterfinals at the Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho.

The Lady Bronchos finished the year 13-11 overall, with four of their losses to Melrose and three to Logan. Logan defeated Melrose Saturday in five games to claim the state title.

Grady/San Jon coach Rebecca Burns acknowledged she and her team were tired of playing Melrose.

“I would have been up for virtually anybody else,” she said with a laugh. “But I think that was the best we’d played against Melrose. We got a few blocks, and our passes were moving. We played well in two of the three sets. For some reason, we had a slump in that second set.”

In the first round of the state tournament Thursday at Cleveland High School in Rio Rancho, Grady/San Jon eliminated Gateway Christian 25-21, 25-18, 25-20.

Gateway Christian ended its season 13-10 overall.

Burns acknowledged the Lady Bronchos started slowly against the Warriors.

“We speeded up our offense by the second game, and it got us going,” she said. “We were really aggressive at the net and found some success there against a really defensively sound team.”

Burns added that Yara Sotelo and Leah Starbuck played an “outstanding” match against Gateway Christian and that Morgan Becerra “did some great things with blocks and kills.”

In pool play Thursday to determine seedings at the state tournament, the Lady Bronchos lost to Logan in two straight sets but swept Santa Fe Waldorf in two. Those matches did not count in the regular-season win-loss record.

Grady/San Jon, in its first season of a cooperative agreement, is losing four seniors — Sotelo, Starbuck, Becerra and Timia Northcutt. Sotelo led the team in kills and digs during the year.

“Overall, we had a pretty successful season,” Burns said. “With a new coach and a new co-op, there was an adjustment. Once we got into our first game and our first tournament, we got rolling. We were put in a tough district and had to compete against really tough teams, and I’m proud of what we accomplished this year.”