Champions again: Laguna Acoma captures first place at Rehoboth tourney

REHOBOTH, N.M. – This is starting to become an annual tradition.

For the third straight year the Laguna Acoma volleyball team played in the finals of the gold bracket at the Rehoboth Christian tournament.

The Lady Hawks (8-3 overall) seized its second consecutive championship title by downing Tohatchi (9-2) in straight sets Saturday night. The set scores were 25-22, 25-13, 25-15.

“This means a lot because we had some doubters,” Laguna Acoma junior Gianna Carrillo said.

The defensive specialist/outside hitter said they’ve heard idle talk about this year’s squad not having the means to repeat as champions after losing some quality players from last season.

“They said we can’t do this without last year’s team, but we showed them that we can play without them,” she said. “I’m proud of every girl on this team because we’ve improved a lot since our first game with Tohatchi.”

In that August contest, LA edged the Lady Cougars 3-2 in sets but on Saturday night the defending champs made easy work of Tohatchi.

Other than the first set, the Hawks dictated play with its offensive and defensive play.

“The girls played very well,” said LA interim coach Randy Sousea, who took over the program about three weeks ago.

“We played in a tournament before this and we started off a little rough but once we got their motivation going, we kept building on that,” he said.

“They’re a strong group of girls,” said Melanie Garcia, who was brought in to mentor the LA coaching staff. “We lost a lot last year, but they’ve shown that they’re strong as a unit and not as individuals.

The two coaches said they’ve emphasized teamwork as a way to get things done.

“If they can all work together good things can happen,” Garcia said.

That cohesion paid dividends for the Hawks as they finished with 32 kills and 10 aces. Tohatchi, meanwhile, finished with 16 kills and eight service aces.

“It all begins with a good pass,” said Carrillo who finished with 10 kills. “That’s the only reason why we get great hits. It’s because of our liberos and back passers. They’re really good at passing.

“I just go up and swing as hard as I can,” she added. “I read the court a lot to see where the open spaces are.”

In addition to Carrillo, senior outside hitter Savannah Suazo finished with 10 kills and two aces. Suazo made the all-tournament team along with teammates Kaylee Lorenzo and Sophia Lazos.

Tohatchi was led by senior middle hitter Crra Cecil, who finished with five kills and three aces. All-tournament selectees Kayanna Captain and Shalleyah Livingston added three kills and three aces, respectively.

After trailing 8-3 in the opening set, the Cougars rallied and regained the lead on a 10-3 run with Cecil putting across five service points for a 13-11 lead.

LA tied the opening set behind a Carrillo kill and a Tohatchi rotation error. The set was tied three more times before the Cougars built a 22-18 cushion.

Things took a rapid turn as Tohatchi was called for three more rotation errors as LA closed out the set on a 7-0 run.

“They called us out of rotation four times,” Tohatchi coach Jonath Gee said. “I asked for a lineup check, and we got the same call again and that killed our momentum. We tried to fight back and we just couldn’t get back into the rhythm of playing.”

Gee said they had some good spurts, but they were undone with errors and miscommunication.

“That all goes back to fundamentals and not talking,” he said. “We had some dropped balls that we could have gotten up, but give it to Laguna.

“They hustled and they play great defense,” he added. “That is something we’re working on. We’re trying to be more of a defensive team, we’re trying to get everybody to work together.

Right now, we’re working on chemistry.”

Gee said making the tournament finals in the gold bracket is a step up from last year’s Maroon bracket finish.

“This is a big jump for us,” he said. “It’s great to finish as the runner-up. I’m very proud of the girls. You know, this is a great way for us to start our district season.”

On Tuesday, Tohatchi opened District 1-3A play against Navajo Prep as they came up short 3-1. The Cougars will host Crownpoint tonight before they entertain Thoreau on Tuesday.

“We need to continue to work hard,” Gee said. “Our goal is to win our district and hopefully we’ll get that bid to state.”

Laguna Acoma is looking to do the same as it will play six nondistrict games before hosting Rehoboth on Oct. 26.

“We’re doing a lot better, and I think we have a chance to three-peat at state,” Carrillo said.

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