Santa Rosa captures Invitational

The Santa Rosa volleyball team came from behind to conquer previously unbeaten Logan 18-25, 25-14, 25-22, 25-21 on Saturday to capture the Tucumcari Invitational title.

Host Tucumcari finished third in the eight-team tourney by defeating Raton 25-23, 25-19, 25-15 after the Lady Rattlers fell to Logan 17-25, 16-25, 18-25 in the semifinal.

Logan, which finished the week with a 6-1 mark, seemed to have its match against Santa Rosa (5-1) well in control after going on a 7-2 run to win the first set.

But the Lady Lions nabbed the next three games - including surviving a 9-0 Logan run in the third set - to win the match.

Santa Rosa coach Kevin Ortiz insisted he made no adjustments between the first and second sets to right his squad.

"It was all mentality," he said. "They came back with a positive outlook, and it ended up being in our favor at the end.

"We knew Logan was going to push us, and they took that first game. And I'm proud of us for coming back and winning those last three - especially against Logan."

Logan coach Robert Young also noted Santa Rosa's steadiness.

"They picked up their intensity and were able to maintain it," he said. "We had a lot of ups and downs in the match, and I thought we dropped off in some cases.

"We'd be serving good, then all of a sudden, we'd lose our serve. We hit a lot of balls out. We made a lot of serve-receive errors we normally wouldn't make. When we had to scramble around because of bad passes, that led to a lot of problems."

Miranda Sanchez led the Lady Lions with 11 kills and three blocks, while Daelyn Pacheco added 10 kills and two aces. Sanchez, Pacheco and Tristin Trujillo each made the all-tournament team, and setter Summer Storey was named Most Valuable Player.

"It was probably good to play a team like this because it shows what we need to work on," Young said. "They're the best team we've played this year."

For Logan, Reece Goldston led her team with 12 kills, and Rilee Nials added 11. Goldston and Nials each were named to the all-tournament team.

In the third-place victory against Raton, Tucumcari outside hitter Amber Owen made 15 kills, two service aces and one block. She and libero Alexus Lafferty made the all-tournament team.

Tucumcari coach Dana Benavidez primarily credited those two and setter Caylee Benavidez for her team's good play as of late. The Lady Rattlers (4-5) also finished third at the Logan Invitational the previous week.

"We practice hard, and we are good to each other. We have good leaders," she said. "They are stepping it up to make huge plays, as well as our middle blockers, who are getting lots of blocks and are making a difference in our games."

In the semifinal Saturday morning, Tucumcari lost to Logan 17-25, 16-25, 18-25. Owen had five kills and Lafferty four aces for the Lady Rattlers.

During a regular-season matchup two days before, Tucumcari was the first team this season to push Logan to four games this season during a 15-25, 25-23, 12-25, 16-25 loss.

"Their defense has gotten a lot better and gave us a lot of trouble," Young said of Tucumcari. "And they served well. Alexus and Amber, when they played us, they were lights-out great, and they had some other kids who stepped up. They put us back on our heels and played smart against us.

"They're getting better; I wouldn't want to play them again."

"We never did get beat bad, just lost a few touches here and there," Benavidez said of the Logan losses. "Logan has such a good serving team that we struggled a little bit with that. But our girls played up to the best of our ability. We put pressure on them, and I'm proud of them for that."

Benavidez was hard-pressed to think of areas of improvement for the Lady Rattlers.

"We want to continue working on blocking," she said. "But I don't know ... we've played pretty good. If we play up to that ability, I'll be proud of everyone, and I think we'll win."

In the first round of the tournament, Tucumcari defeated Grady 25-18, 16-25, 25-14, 25-19.

San Jon (3-3) went 1-2 at the tourney, losing in the consolation bracket final 9-25, 16-25, 25-23, 25-13, 25-23 to East Mountain on Saturday.

The Coyotes fell to Logan 16-25, 10-25, 24-26 in the tournament opener Friday but won their initial consolation match 28-26, 25-17, 25-8 against Grady on Saturday.

San Jon coach Jaree Elliott said her team looked rattled during the tournament's first day.

"We started worse than I would have liked to based on our most recent games. We had the youth-scared look," she said Saturday. "Yesterday, we played very fragmented. We never got into our system; we never clicked.

"This morning, we were playing our system and trusting the system. From this morning to this afternoon, we played better ball. We just had crucial lapses. But today, we played our best as a team so far this season."

San Jon's Karlee Elliott was named to the all-tournament team.