Gallup hits reset button, starts district play at 2-1

GALLUP – The Gallup volleyball team has hit the reset button for the important half of the season.

The Lady Bengals dealt with injuries earlier this year as they finished above .500 entering the District 1-4A season.

Gallup improved to 9-7 overall and 2-1 in district following Tuesday’s sweep over Bloomfield. The set scores were 25-18, 25-19, and 25-16.

Last week, Gallup coach LaRena Morris welcomed back senior middle hitter Rylie Whitehair back into the lineup. Morris also moved senior Miranda Begay from libero to the team’s primary setter.

“Rylie has been out a majority of the season,” Morris said. “She only played in our first match, so we’re adjusting to a whole new rotation with her back.

“We also have a new setter,” she added. “With Miranda, we’re running a whole new offense. We’re still adjusting to that, too.”

Last Thursday, the Bengals hosted crosstown rival Miyamura as the Morris-coached team rebounded from a five-set loss to district leader Kirtland Central.

Gallup defeated Miyamura in four sets, winning 20-25, 25-20, 25-21 and 25-21.

“We started off slow,” Morris said. “Rylie is still adjusting and so she was a little rusty. You could tell because she was not as aggressive. Hopefully, in the next couple of weeks, we’ll adjust with our new rotation and with our new setter.”

Begay says the transition has been smooth and she credits her all-around volleyball skills for taking on a new role for the team.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Begay said. “I’m still getting used to (my new role), but I think we can be a pretty good team. We have some good hitters on our team, and we have some good passers.”

Like Gallup, Miyamura has been impacted by the injury bug. The Lady Patriots were missing three key starters in middle hitter Brena Saucedo, Elena Haley, and their defensive specialist.

“This group is not that bad,” said Zamora, who graduated nine seniors off last year’s state playoff team. “It’s just that we’re missing some big pieces. We’re missing two of our biggest scorers and our leading DS, who was involved in an accident.

“We haven’t played one single game this year without our entire roster,” he added. “We’ve been missing somebody at some points, but no excuses. We got to do better.”

With those starters out, Miyamura got contributions from others with sophomore Amora Yazzie leading the Patriots with 13 kills. Senior Alayna Vidal added 11 and junior Amanda DuBoise finished with 10.

Zamora said they started last Thursday’s game “super aggressive,” but they stopped swinging.

“We jumped out to a big lead right away,” Zamora said. “We were swinging, we were terminating, and we were scoring points. We were hyper-aggressive at the serving line, and we were manufacturing points.

“At 20 points, we just stopped,” he added. “We allowed them the opportunity to come back and generate some momentum, and they ended up winning the next three sets.”

For much of the first set, Zamora said they kept Gallup out of system.

“We started tipping and rolling the ball, and that allowed them to be in system,” the Miyamura coach said. “Of course, Rylie does what Rylie does. As soon as we started rolling and tipping, Rylie was getting her normal activity, and she was scoring. I mean, that is what she does – she’s a scorer.”

Despite falling 3-12 overall and 1-2 in district play following Tuesday’s loss to KC, Zamora still believes they have the means to compete for a district title.

“We played nothing but 5A teams,” Zamora said. “We’ve run the gauntlet in 5A and that is what prepared us. But like I said, when we tip and roll the ball, we’re not going to win that many games.

“We have to hit the ball,” he added.

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