Lady Longhorns fall to Quemado in title match

RIO RANCHO - Logan had conquered Gateway Christian, Roy-Mosquero and Pine Hill, and it didn't have to worry about facing longtime rival Melrose again at the Class 1A volleyball tournament.

But Logan couldn't get past an upstart Quemado squad.

The third-seeded Eagles stopped the top-seeded Lady Longhorns 25-20, 25-20, 25-18 in the 1A title game Saturday at the Rio Rancho Events Center.

Quemado (24-4) rarely trailed in any of its sets, winning its first volleyball state championship since 1977.

Logan finished its season 22-6 and captured a district title, winning 11 of 12 matches at one point.

Logan defeated Quemado in three sets during an earlier matchup in September. Logan coach Glynna Strand said the Eagles improved "a lot" in the weeks following.

"I thought they did a fantastic job of keeping their tempo up and putting the ball in spots that it needed to be in," she said. "Threw us off our game."

Chancie Pergeson led the Eagles with 12 kills, and Nekishia Garcia added 10.

Logan senior co-captain Haylie Bidegain said she and her teammates found it tough slowing down the hard-hitting Garcia.

"We just really struggled blocking No. 10 (Garcia)," she said. "The last time we played them, we were really efficient at blocking her. And she didn't make as many unforced errors as last time around."

One big advantage Quemado used against Logan on Saturday was its service game. The Eagles totaled 15 aces, including seven by Ellie Gutheridge and six by Adriana Hood.

"Their serves were really good," Strand said. "We struggled with the serve receive, and that threw us off. Couldn't quite get our passes where they needed to be to get our game going. But they were a great team."

Quemado coach Francesca Chavez said the difference between her team and Logan the first time they played wasn't vast.

"If you go back and you look at at that match, you just change a couple of the errors that we had and all of a sudden, we're on top," she said. "But Logan's a heck of a team, and they are sure challenging. We just had less errors tonight."

Chavez also acknowledged her team peaked at the right time.

"It did finally all come together," she said. "We had a few trials and tribulations in the last couple of weeks. We played three eighth-graders pretty consistently. So having them have some experience at one of the later tournaments and then having some district play behind him, it really helped them prepare them for today."

Desta Rose, a junior, led Logan in the losing cause with 11 kills and two service aces. Bidegain added 10 kills and two aces.

After the Class 1A trophy presentations, Strand talked to her team and consoled her three seniors.

Asked what she told her squad, Strand said: "I just thought it was a great season. I mean, second place is not what we wanted, but it's still not a shabby season. We're proud of them."

Bidegain agreed it was a superb season for the Lady Longhorns.

"I think, honestly, it's one of the best I've been a part of," she said, "and I've been on varsity for four years now. I'm really going to miss it. We got along super well, and it's just something that I'm really going to miss."

Like Logan, Quemado had to fight its way through the loser's bracket at the tournament. The Eagles knocked off Roy-Mosquero in three sets in the first round but fell in three sets to No. 2-seeded Gateway Christian in the quarterfinals.

But Quemado topped fifth-seeded Elida in four sets, then prevailed 25-22, 25-20, 25-27, 24-26, 17-15 in an epic battle against fourth-seeded Melrose in the semifinals.

Logan had its own epic battle in the semifinals Saturday morning, edging Gateway 25-20, 19-25, 24-26, 31-29, 16-14.

In the critical fourth set, Logan successfully fought off Gateway's match-point bid four times. Rose made eight of her 13 kills during the set.

In the fifth-set tiebreaker, Bidegain made four kills and Aspen Casey three to power the Lady Longhorns. Bidegain finished with 19 kills and three aces during the match.

Strand said the victory over Gateway probably was set up by Logan's 25-17, 25-19, 16-25, 15-25, 10-15 loss to Melrose on Friday.

"Against Melrose, we were lights-out in those first two sets, and then we just fell apart," she said.

"So we talked a lot about mental toughness coming into this (Gateway) game. We did a lot of planning for Melrose; maybe we overdid the planning because coming into this game we didn't do that a lot. I just said, 'Go play your game, play your game.' And I think they relaxed."

Gateway, led by Alyssa Fox's 21 kills, finished the year 22-4.

In the loser's bracket match, Logan dispatched of six-seeded Roy-Mosquero 25-23, 25-18, 25-16. The Pirates ended their year 22-5.

In the Lady Longhorns' first match Thursday, they knocked off ninth-seeded Pine Hill 25-21, 25-11, 25-21. The Warriors ended their season 19-7.

In addition to Bidegain, Logan loses seniors Kara Bibbs and Abby Paris to graduation.