Coaches expecting to rebuild in tentative season

Coaches who lead high-school volleyball programs in Quay County all are expecting to rebuild their teams as they tentatively begin their COVID-delayed seasons this week, barring any last-minute delays because of the pandemic.

San Jon faces as big of a reconstruction project as any. The school district voted in December to end its two-year sports cooperative agreement with Grady. That means the Coyotes are going it alone without help from Grady athletes.

Worse yet, they’re without San Jon standout Teryn Foote and her 254 kills for Grady-San Jon last year, as she transferred to the Bronchos program.

Still, San Jon coach Jaree Elliott, who coached the team before the cooperative, saw encouraging early signs from her Coyotes squad, which will play its season-opener at home Saturday against Mosquero.

“We going to be strong servers,” she said. “We have some strong hitters, but they’re young and lack experience.”

San Jon has seven high-schoolers on the varsity squad, along with four eighth-graders who would be summoned to play as needed.

Elliott said she’s enthused about her incoming freshmen.

“I’ve coached them since second grade,” she said. “No matter what their size, stature or experience is, they are just gritty. They really love to play, they play to win and they leave it all on the court. They are super-fun to coach.”

Elliott said she expects leadership from two seniors — middle hitter Bailey Montoya, who was third on Grady-San Jon in kills last year, and Des Moines transfer Taya Archuleta, whom Elliott said is a strong athlete.

San Jon will play in rugged District 6-1A, which boasts perennial state contenders Logan and Melrose.

“I don’t know how we’ll stack up against anyone, but we’re pretty darned excited about getting to play,” Elliott said.

Tucumcari

The Lady Rattlers, who earned their first state tournament berth in 30 years last season, is rebuilding after all-district hitter Jasmine Jones (and her nearly 200 kills) graduated with five other seniors and all-district setter Reece Goldston transferred to Logan.

Tucumcari opens its season on the road Saturday at Pecos. The Lady Rattlers’ first home game is Oct. 13 against Santa Rosa.

Dana Benavidez said her team has six starters returning, including front-line players Felicity Lopez (95 kills, second on the team) and Amber Owen (team-leading 31 blocks) and back-row players Alexus Lafferty and Arissa Griego.

She said Madison Dysart and Gracie Otero also are “coming along well” as hitters, and “we have great passing.”

One question mark is setter.

“We’re developing some of our younger players for the setter position, and we’re getting a good flow,” Benavidez said. “I think we’ll be very competitive.”

Tularosa dropped out of Tucumcari’s district into Class 2A. Replacing it will be New Mexico Military Institute. Dexter remains in the district.

Logan

Logan lost three all-state players — Karli Webb (209 kills), Jordan Hines (264 kills) and Julianna Garcia (304 digs) — to graduation after the Lady Longhorns won their third straight Class 1A title.

Don’t expect much of a letdown, though.

“I think we have enough returners that we’ll be pretty solid this year,” coach Robert Young said. “We lost a lot of talent, but we had several kids who played big roles in what we did.”

Logan opens its season Saturday at home against Elida.

Young said Kambry Burns, Karlee Cantrell and second-team all-stater Kyndall Ragland (110 kills) have proven to be strong hitters. He said junior Rilee Nials, promoted from the junior varsity, is almost as tall as the 5-foot-11 Ragland and will augment the team’s front row.

Young said a big priority is finding a setter.

“We’ve got a few who are battling for spots,” he said. “There’s a lot of intrasquad competition.”

In District 6-1A, Young said he expects Melrose again to be a contender, despite losing three strong hitters to graduation. He said Fort Sumner likely will be formidable because the Vixens lost few players from last season’s squad. Grady also lost few players and gained one when San Jon star Foote transferred there.