Karen Boehler — NMMI Sports Press
The Colt volleyball team (1-2) opened a very busy week — four games in four days — with a 17-25, 15-25, 18-25 loss to Gateway Christian at the Warrior Center. But despite the loss, coach Stephanie Schooley was happy with a lot of what she saw.
“We had a lot of positives in this game,” she said. “We’re transitioning better; we’re communicating better; we’re trusting each other more. I’m super proud of the effort they gave in the game tonight.”
Game 1 was a story of runs.
After a hitting error gave the first point to the Warriors, NMMI went on a six-point run on the serving of Olive Amechi.
After getting the ball back one serve later, the Colts added four points in a row, on serving, a tip and a kill from Kamryn Ryan, and a strong kill by Amechi to lead 10-2.
But then Gateway went on runs of its own. Four points by Hannah Lilley and seven by M.J. Stephens put the Warriors on top 13-11. NMMI tied to at 13-all, but then Warrior libero Kira Balok went on a nine-point run that included two aces and only ended on a Gateway kill that went long.
With GCS only needing one more point, NMMI didn’t give up, getting two more points on two strong kills by Ryan before a hitting error gave Gateway the victory.
Gateway pulled ahead 11-2 on a series of serves — including three aces by Lilley — but NMMI never let it get too far away. Two aces by Amechi — one just on the line — and a nice punch where no one was covering by Ashlynn Irish got the Colts to 23-15, but then the Warriors closed it out.
NMMI scored the first point in Game 3 on an official’s call, but then Gateway strung together six points — including two aces by Lilley and a kill by Stephens, and they never trailed again. The Colts closed the gap to 7-6 and 9-8 Warriors before two more runs by the home team made it 21-9.
But again, the Institute didn’t give up.
They got the ball back on a Warrior hitting error, and made it 22-15 on fours serves — one ace — by Rilan Maloney and a good block at the net. The teams traded side outs then NMMI added one more before Gateway closed out the game and match.
The serving on both sides had highlights and lowlights, which Schooley said they talked about.
“We missed too many serves at some crucial times. We’d fight to get the ball back on our side of the net then we’d give it right back by serving in the net or out of bounds,” she said. “Something that we definitely need to clean up is our service errors. We need to do a little better on our serve-receive and just having that confidence to make that first pass so we can get a good swing. I want my hitters to approach on every single ball and try to make an aggressive swing.”
Individually, Schooley was pleased with Maloney, who she said “stepped up. She was chasing all the balls down as a setter and she had some great swings tonight.”
The coach was also pleased with the effort of sophomore Amechi and NMMI’s freshman libero in the back row.
“Ashlynn Irish is moving really well,” the coach said. “She’s just a freshman and really stepped into a leadership position on our team as well.”
The Colts will try to get back on the winning track at Home vs. Hondo Tuesday; Wednesday at Mescalero; and Thursday vs. Tucumcari in the district opener at Godfrey Athletic Center.
NMMI JV 2, Gateway JV 0
The junior varsity upped their season record to 2-0 with a 25-13, 25-23 victory over the young Warrior team.
NMMI made Game 1 look easy, but had a tougher time in Game 2.
The Warriors went up 6-2, but the Institute went up 9-7 on six serves — including four aces — by Anna Gerber. The Colts stretched their lead to 20-12, but Gateway forced side outs on NMMI, while picking up extra points of their own to close the gap to 24-23 before the Colts got the last point on a Warrior hitting error.
“The JV team worked together really well,” said coach Susan Alvis. “They’re learning how to communicate and trust each other. I was very proud of them.”