Tohatchi netters sweep Crownpoint, improve to 2-0 in district

CROWNPOINT

Nothing came easy for the Tohatchi Lady Cougars on Thursday night.

Tohatchi defeated district rival Crownpoint in straight sets, but the Lady Cougar had to scratch and claw their way to the finish line. The set scores were 25-21, 25-19, 25-17.

“Crownpoint has gotten a lot better since the beginning of the season, so I have to give their coaches credit and their players credit,” Tohatchi coach Jonath Gee said. “They did a good job of scouting us. They knew where we were going to place the ball.

“I give them credit because they gave us a tough game,” he added.

Nonetheless, the third-year coach cited Homecoming Week as a “distraction” coming into its game with the Lady Eagles.

“With it being homecoming, I feel like we didn’t play to our potential,” Gee said. “Some of my girls are running for homecoming queen and homecoming princesses so it was a busy week. I’m just proud of the way they came through and hung in there.

“We played just enough to win,” Gee added.

Last season, Tohatchi was the co-district champs with Navajo Prep. The Cougars are looking for another top finish as they improved to 10-2 overall and 2-0 in District 1-3A play.

“It’s a real big deal because we want to get one of the top four seeds for state,” Tohatchi middle hitter Bobbi Yazzie said of the 2-0 start in the district. “Our goal is to win district again and do well at state.”

Like her coach, Yazzie believes Crownpoint gave them fits, but she feels they did enough to pull out each set.

“Crownpoint is a good team,” Yazzie said. “They knew what to do, and they knew what not to do. They knew our weak areas, so we had to make the adjustments. We had to come together and make our plays work.”

In the opening set, Crownpoint led 21-19 but the Lady Cougars turned back the Eagles with Yazzie at the service line. She served across six straight points to close out the set.

After a back-and-forth affair, Tohatchi flexed its muscles and used an 8-2 run to close out the second set as Crownpoint got within 17-16.

In the third, the hometown Eagles tied the contest at 17-all but Tohatchi put their coach at ease with junior Maddi Pasquale scoring eight straight points. Senior outside hitter Kayanna Capitan capped the win with a crosscourt kill.

“Kayanna Capitan stepped it up there at the end,” Gee said. “Overall, we got more aggressive and I think that broke them (Crownpoint) down a little bit.”

Despite losing the match, first-year Crownpoint coach Abby Bodie left Thursday’s match pleased.

“As a first-year coach we struggled at the beginning of the season,” said Bodie, whose team dropped to 4-7 overall and 1-1 in the district. “We learned a lot about ourselves. We’ve put in a lot of work and one of the things I like about our team is we’re scrappy.

“I feel like defense wins games,” she added. “That’s our main motivation because we’re not lacking in blocking and we’re not lacking in hitting. Our defense is what’s going to carry us.”

Bodie felt that Tohatchi’s experience gave them a slight edge, especially late when the sets were getting tight.

“They’re a really structured team,” Bodie said of the Cougars. “They love to capitalize on your mistakes. They’re a really good team, and where we struggle is self-motivation. We’re still working on trying to recover from little mistakes we make.”

Both teams will be in action on Tuesday with Crownpoint hosting Navajo Pine in a non-district game while Tohatchi travels to Thoreau for another district contest.

“That’s going to be another big game, so we’re gonna be watching a lot of film,” Gee said. “We’re going to mix it up a bit – that is why I encourage my players to know how to play different positions, so they can move accordingly.”

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