Tohatchi netters take gold
Navajo Times | Quentin Jodie
Tohatchi senior outside hitter Kayanna Capitan tips the ball over the outreached hands of Reserve player Emily Landrum in the championship game of the Rehoboth Christian Volleyball Tournament. Tohatchi won the gold bracket in four sets with Capitan being tabbed the tournament’s MVP.
REHOBOTH, N.M. – After losing the first set, the Tohatchi volleyball team rattled off the next three to capture the Gold Bracket at the 16-team Rehoboth Christian Volleyball Tournament.
The Class 3A Lady Cougars got a stiff test from 1A Reserve in the tournament finale on Saturday with Tohatchi winning 15-25, 27-25, 25-20, 25-14.
“I thought we came out too relaxed,” third-year Tohatchi coach Jonath Gee said. “(Reserve) came out really aggressive and I have to give credit to No. 5 (Delicia Delgado). She took over the game. She’s a great player and she can hit anywhere on the court.”
The hard-hitting Delgado showed off her range of shots as Reserve pulled away from Tohatchi in the opening set.
“We weren’t covering the areas to where she was placing the ball,” Gee said. “We were also behind with our blocks, and we were not communicating.”
But as the game progressed into the latter sets the Cougars made the adjustments to slow down Delgado. On the other side of the net, Tohatchi got some timely hits from seniors Kayanna Capitan and Devyn Harvey as well as juniors Bobbi Yazzie and Maddi Pasquale.
“We made some adjustments,” Gee said. “We were making better passes in the back to set up our hitters. Again, we’re not a tipping team, and we’re not a finesse team.
“We’re a hitting team, so our setter (Tatum Mitchell) really stepped up,” he added.
Entering the bracket portion Tohatchi earned one of the top four seeds after winning its pool against Monument Valley (Utah), Red Mesa, and Navajo Pine.
The other top seeds were Rehoboth, Thoreau, and Reserve for the eight-team gold bracket.
“This is a great tournament, it’s very competitive,” Gee said. “We had a great experience. We played against different types of teams, and we saw different offenses.”
The Cougars landed four players on the all-tournament selection team with Capitan earning the tournament’s MVP while Harvey, Pasquale, and Yazzie were named all-tourney.
“I think this is really nice,” Capitan said of her MVP selection. “We played a good match, and I want to thank my team and my setter.”
Earlier in the tournament, Tohatchi swept Alamo Navajo before the Cougars outlasted district rival Thoreau in four sets.
“This means a lot,” Capitan said of winning the tournament. “I think this is going to help us for the rest of the year. We worked a lot during the summer, and we want to make state again.”
Last season, the Cougars went 3-2 at the 3A state tournament which featured a double-elimination format. Tohatchi came up one game short of making the final four rounds.
“The bar is set high,” Gee said. “This team has a better understanding of the expectations that I have. Every day we’re going to keep building, but the communication has to be there because we’re not talking.
“If we’re talking, then things can go smoothly,” he added.
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