Ramah, Rehoboth loses quarterfinal matches in four sets

RIO RANCHO, N.M.

The Ramah High School volleyball team thought the quarterfinals was in the bag.

They were given the No. 6 seed in the New Mexico High School State Volleyball Championships and received a bye in the first round when they upset No. 3 Hagerman in pool play last week.

But their overconfidence got the best of them when No. 3 Tatum defeated them in the quarterfinals in four sets. The set scores were 25-22, 25-15, 20-25, 28-26.

Ramah head coach Deana Larson said the loss was a result of too much confidence and lack of effort.

“They just showed up too late to play. I think they came in with big heads after yesterday’s defeat over Hagerman…they just showed up too late to the game,” she said. “They weren’t playing their best. They didn’t start playing until the third match and we can’t do that.”

Ramah finished first in pool play and was given a bye in the first round.

In the quarterfinals, Tatum jumped to an eight-point lead in the first game to lead Ramah 12-4. They extended their lead as Ramah chipped away but closed the game with the 25-22 win.
Tatum jumped out front again in the second game with a 13-1 lead. Ramah chipped away again but lost the second game 25-15.

Larson said it was obvious her team was playing out of character as they made little mistakes and seemed to lag.

“I really think they came in with big heads thinking they had it, it was going to be easy and they didn’t work hard,” she said. “They didn’t pull out and didn’t do the things that we asked. They wouldn’t listen to the coaches, they didn’t do what we were telling them to do and it killed us.”

In Class 3A, the Rehoboth Christian School Lady Lynx fell short in the quarterfinals to Santa Rosa, losing 25-13, 21-25, 25-7 and 25-12.

Santa Rosa set the momentum and picked up an easy win in the first game. Rehoboth fought back early in the second game, after they took the lead over Santa Rosa 9-6 they kept it the rest of the game. They closed game two with the 25-21 win.

Rehoboth head coach Charlene Chapman said her team gave their best effort in the second game but old bad habits got the best of them in the two that followed.

“The best game we had was game two, of course the one we won, we were just playing a whole lot smarter that game. The other games we let things get to us and I think for the most part beat ourselves,” Chapman said. “That’s been something that we’ve struggled with but we’ve gotten better at it as the season went, but some of those things come back and haunt you at the end.”

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