Lady Rattlers rally to win their own tourney

The Tucumcari girls volleyball team on Saturday captured its second tournament trophy in as many weeks, rallying from a two-set deficit to win 14-25, 20-25, 25-9, 25-22, 15-7 over Raton in the title game of the Tucumcari Invitational.

Lady Rattlers named to the all-tournament team were hitters Kyla Lopez, July Lafferty, Cambree Benavidez and libber Nevaeh Montoya. Setter Caylee Benavidez, a four-year starter at THS, was named Most Valuable Player.

Tucumcari, ranked No. 2 in Class 2A by MaxPreps.com, improved to 7-0. Raton fell to 2-1. Both will play each other again during their upcoming district schedules.

It was the first time since 2016 - coach Dana Benavidez's first season - the Lady Rattlers had won its own tournament. She couldn't recall a time Tucumcari had won its home tourney and the Logan tournament in the same season.

Coach Benavidez was thrilled by the victory but frazzled by the drama that came with it. The win over Raton recalled another five-set comeback victory over Fort Sumner to open the season.

"They're going to make me grow old by the minute. I need a vacation," Benavidez said, only half-kidding.

In the end, Tucumcari's big three hitters - Lafferty, Lopez and Cambree Benavidez - came through against Raton. They helped create a 56-37 edge in kills over the Tigers. Cambree Benavidez led the match with 19 kills, while Lafferty made 12 and Lopez 11. Caylee Benavidez also made 12 kills on well-placed tips and shots.

But during the first two sets, it appeared the Lady Rattlers might go home earlier than expected. They struggled against the Lady Tigers' serving, and coach Benavidez said some of her players were nervous at the prospect of winning another tournament trophy this season.

But she said her players didn't give up.

"They think that they can win," she said. "They got their heads together, came out and dominated the third set. The hitters started coming along. In the the third, fourth and fifth sets, it all just came together.

"And for our team to be down like that at a championship game and come back to win shows their heart and how wonderful kids they are."

Tucumcari so thoroughly dominated the third set 25-9, Raton's coach admitted her team became rattled.

"We've kind of struggled a bit with being mentally strong," Lady Tigers coach Sarah Lark said. "And then if we get down, it's just such a mental game for us. So I think when we got down in that third set ... I mean, it's such a mind game for them."

In the fourth set, Tucumcari never trailed by more than three points. The Lady Rattlers made a 5-1 scoring run late that gave them the lead for good. Lafferty and Lopez closed the 25-22 win with successive kills.

In the fifth and deciding set, Tucumcari broke it open with a 7-0 run for a 13-6 lead. Cambree Benavidez made five kills during the set. Her big sister notched match point with a deep pass for a kill. That touched off celebrations on the side of the THS floor.

In the semifinal on Saturday morning, the Lady Rattlers struggled at times against Santa Rosa but still won 25-20, 25-22, 26-24.

In another sign of Tucumcari's resilience, the Lady Rattlers trailed 24-18 in the third set, with the Lady Lions poised to force a fourth set.

But Tucumcari reeled off eight unanswered points to win the set and the match anyway. Cambree Benavides closed the set with four straight kills and led the team with 17. Lafferty totaled 10 kills and Lopez seven.

Santa Rosa's blockers made life difficult for Tucumcari during much of the match.

"Sometimes our hitters hit straight down. So when they have a really strong blocker, we have to practice going a different way or sweeping to the side. So we make some in-game adjustments for it and then we seem OK afterwards," coach Benavidez said.

Santa Rosa finished third in the tournament, defeating Grady in that match later Saturday.

After the Lady Rattlers earned the top seed by not losing a set in their pool, they started slowly during a 25-21, 25-9, 25-12 victory over Cimarron on Friday.

Tucumcari briefly trailed 14-9 in the first set before rallying.

The Lady Rattlers commanded a 31-14 advantage in kills. Cambree Benavidez led the team with 13, while Lopez added seven kills, two aces and two blocks. Caylee Benavidez totaled five kills and four blocks, and Aliyah Marez served three aces.

Cimarron wound up finishing seventh in the tournament, defeating Floyd in the consolation bracket.

Another Quay County team, San Jon, went 1-2 during the tournament. The Coyotes lost to Grady in the opening round, defeated Floyd in the consolation bracket and lost to Corona in the fifth-place match.

Logan 3, Santa Rosa 0

Logan cruised past host Santa Rosa by a score of 25-17, 25-14, 25-9 on Thursday night.

Haylie Bidegain led the Lady Longhorns with 13 kills. Desta Rose added eight kills and 13 digs. Jadyn Garcia also totaled 13 digs.

"Started out slow but looked good after," Logan coach Glynna Strand said.

Logan improved to 3-1.