St. Michael sweeps El Capitan
for first place in region race

ST. MICHAELS

The Lady Cardinals of the St. Michael volleyball team took over the driver’s seat in the 1A North Region race on Saturday.

Eighth-ranked St. Michael defeated No. 12 El Capitan, last season’s region champs, in a pair of tough matches as the sweep improved the Cardinals record to 12-7 overall and 3-0 in 1A North play.

The Cardinals went the distance and beat the visiting Eagles in five sets (20-25, 25-14, 24-26, 25-12, 15-11) earlier Saturday at St. Michael High School. The Cardinals then consolidated that triumph with a 23-25, 25-18, 25-19, 25-21 win in the late game.

“The girls played really well today,” St. Michael coach Reynelda Terry said. “They had to dig deep a couple of times to come back and win a few sets. This is our third game this week, so they had to show their athleticism these last two games.

“They did that, and they had to show a little bit of grit, too,” she added. “I’m just so proud of them, you know, for them to get these two wins.”

In the late game, St. Michael had six players contribute at least two kills as the Cardinals outhit El Capitan (6-6, 4-2 in region play) in its four-set win. St. Michael finished with 47 kills while El Capitan racked up 34.

“We’re fortunate enough to have our players hit from everywhere,” Terry said. “They can hit from the back row, middle and outside. Our middles and outside hitters are at that point where they’re ready to go, ready to hit. Even our libero (Ashley Johnson) can hit, which is good and hopefully we can surprise team that way.”

Freshman Alana Yazzie led the Cardinals with 20 kills while senior Chanelle Hale added a dozen kills and junior Hayden Roan had six.

“We can all hit, and we don’t play favoritism,” Hale said of the team’s dynamics. “We’re always trying to be smart of where we place the ball. Before we hit the ball, we view the court to see where it’s open and that is where we push the ball.”

Of the 47 kills, most were skillfully placed as the Cardinals kept El Capitan’s on its toes. Their attack included a few shallow hits while some hits reached the corners of the court.

“We’ve been working on playing smarter and not harder, so we try to find those open spots,” Terry said. “We try to take a quick glimpse and try to see where those open spots are. We’ve also been working on finding those corners because we noticed that teams start to congregate in the middle and when they do that, they leave those corners open.

“We’ve been trying to perfect that in practice and it’s showing in our games,” she added. “I’m glad that we got to see that today.”

In the opening set of the second game, St. Michael erased a 19-15 deficit behind the play of Yazzie, who put down three kills and an ace during an 8-3 rally as the Cardinals took a 23-22 lead.

An error by St. Michael, however, shifted the momentum as El Capitan capped the set on a 3-0 run behind a kill from senior middle hitter Samantha Hammon and an ace by junior Quincie Hammon for a 25-23 win.

In the next set, Samantha Hammon put up a monster game as she put down 11 of her game-best 23 kills. In one sequence, the middle hitter had three consecutive kills that tied the game at 13-all.

But a kill by senior middle hitter Leona Slim jumpstarted a 5-0 run as the Cardinals took a 19-13 cushion following a nicely placed dink by Hale.

With that six-point cushion, the Cardinals were able to hold off Samantha Hammon as she put down four more kills to cap the second set.

St. Michael’s Ashley Johnson received the brunt of that attack, but the Cardinal libero held her own as she was able to pick up some key digs throughout the match.

“I try my best back there because I know my team relies on me to get those balls up,” Johnson said. “If I can do that, (my teammates) can swing away.”

In the third set, St. Michael broke a 12-12 stalemate to open a 21-14 lead after a dink kill by Hayden Roan, who shared the setting duties with junior Rhyley Meyers.

Despite a late rally by El Capitan, St. Michael won 25-19.

“We’re always pushing,” Johnson said. “We like to start strong and once we get into the 20s, that is when we’re really pushing. We try to get our serves in, and we try to be aggressive.”

Late in the fourth, the Cardinals got rolling behind three kills by Yazzie and two aces from Hale as St. Michael erased a three-point deficit for a 19-16 advantage. That cushion was enough for the Cardinals to complete the sweep.

“It’s pretty huge for us because they won our region last year,” Hale said of the Eagles “All week, we practiced on how we can stay at the same level as El Capitan.”

The Cardinals will return to action on Saturday by traveling to Grand Canyon for a double-header. St. Michael will then travel to Red Mesa on Oct. 14 before hosting region rival Rock Point on Oct. 17.

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