KC netters keep playoff hopes alive with three-set win over Miyamura

By Quentin Jodie
Navajo Times

GALLUP – With the state playoffs around the corner, the Kirtland Central volleyball team needed this win.

The Lady Broncos (16-4-1) were coming off a five-set loss to Shiprock entering Thursday night’s game with the Miyamura Lady Patriots.

KC bounced back in a big way by sweeping the Patriots with a 28-26, 25-17, 25-14 win as the Patriots control their playoff destiny with a 7-1 mark in District 1-4A.

Had the Broncos come up short, there would have been a logjam atop the district race as Shiprock and Miyamura would have tied KC with 6-2 records.

“Miyamura is tough team, and in our district anybody can win on any given night, and so this was a must-win for us,” KC coach Nadia Begay-Watson said. “You know, (the state seeding committee) takes only one team from our district and so it was a must-win for us and our girls really came out and they showed out.”

After receiving a tough outing in the opening set from Miyamura, Begay-Watson says her team made the adjustments, particularly with their serves to sweep the Patriots. Earlier this season, KC beat Miyamura in four sets.

“Their serves were fantastic tonight,” the KC coach said of her team that tallied 28 kills and a dozen aces. “I mean, my starters had a rough start and I made a lot of subs in that first game and it was a wakeup call for my starters for them to get going.”

Miyamura had a couple of opportunities to win that first set after leading 24-22 following a kill by senior middle hitter Elena Haley, who finished with seven kills.

But the Broncos scored two straight points behind Kaylyn Cadman, who put down a kill before serving in an ace that tied the set at 24-all.

Miyamura had its third game-point when junior setter Giada Wagner placed a dink kill on the floor for a 26-25 edge. Nonetheless, KC closed out the set on a 3-1 run as Miyamura tossed in a couple of miscues, including a service error, to give the Broncos the 28-26 win.

“We should have won that set,” said Miyamura coach Eric Zamora, whose team dropped to 10-11 overall and 5-3 in district play. “I mean, we missed five serves in that one and it was pretty rough. If we get any of those, it would have been a different story.”

For the match, Miyamura finished with 25 errors, including 10 services errors.

“We were purposely trying to do some stuff and the ball was just carrying, going out long and we were missing them by six, eight inches,” Zamora said of their 15 hitting miscues. “It was just one of those nights. We were making adjustments on our side and (the ball) was just carrying.”

The Miyamura coach acknowledged his club struggled to recover after losing that first set as KC won the next two sets 25-18 and 25-14.

“We kept the same lineup and I think part of that was deflating for some of the kids,” Zamora said. “In volleyball, you have to have purpose to win every set and we just didn’t have enough to overcome it. And you know, it bit us – it really did.”

In those last two sets, KC put down 16 kills and eight aces with six players having at least one kill. Senior Krista Tsingine-Yazzie and junior Cayle Lee led KC with six kills each while junior Taylor Hanna had six aces from the service line.

“Our serves can be tough,” Begay-Watson said. “Our serves keep a lot of people out of system and that gives us the freedom for our passers to put it back in system for the kill.

“I think our serves has a lot to keep people out of system,” she added.

Both teams will be in action on Tuesday night with the Broncos playing at Aztec while Miyamura is at Bloomfield.

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