Thoreau netters take Maroon bracket

REHOBOTH, N.M.

The Thoreau Lady Hawks captured the Maroon bracket of the Rehoboth Christian volleyball tournament.

The Hawks beat district rival Zuni in four sets in the consolation bracket of the 16-team, three-day tournament.

The set scores were 22-25, 25-19, 25-22 and 25-16.

“This is a good tournament because it builds their confidence,” Thoreau coach Kyron White said. “It’s building our confidence heading into districts, so I’m pretty excited about it.”

Thoreau got three of its players recognized with senior middle hitter Maria Calladitto earning the tournament’s MVP award while senior setter Malorie Halloway and freshman middle hitter Colleen Moses Perry made the all-tournament team.

“This is awesome,” Calladitto said. “We pulled through and we stayed together as a team to make this happen.”

The Hawks finished third in its pool behind Reserve and Alamo Navajo while Navajo Pine took fourth.

“I have a very young group, so they’re still learning how to work together,” White said. “They’re learning how to face adversity and they faced that in pool play and in the championship game.”

In the title game, the Hawks opened a 13-7 advantage in the first set. The Lady T-Birds, however, used a variety of winners to tie the match at 15-all.

The T-Birds then took a 19-18 lead after a service ace from senior Elliana Lowsayatee. They closed out the set scoring six of the last 10 points with junior Kiley Gia putting down a kill for a 25-22 win.

In a repeat performance, the Hawks started the second set on a strong note with junior Jazmin Sam serving up five consecutive points for a 14-7 cushion.

And although the T-Birds pulled within 20-16, the White-coached team held on to tie the match, winning 25-19.

The third set featured three lead changes and five ties as both teams battled to an 18-all stalemate.

A 6-0 run by Thoreau put the Hawks in the driver’s seat as defensive specialist Kiana Curley served up four aces for a 24-18 cushion.

Zuni staved off four set points, but the Hawks got the game-winning point from Moses-Perry.

Thoreau carried that momentum into fourth set by taking a 9-2 lead following five straight points from Halloway.

A pair of kills by Calladitto pushed that margin to 17-8 and the Hawks coasted from there with Moses-Perry giving Thoreau the championship trophy with a huge block.

“Zuni is a very good defensive team,” White said. “They’re very scrappy, and I thought that we had to be smart with our shot selections.”

And although his girls were disappointed, second-year Zuni coach Jesrelle Bontuyan said he was pleased with how they played.

“This is a good sign because I know Thoreau is a very tough team,” he said. “We played them very good, and this team is very young. Most of them are sophomores and juniors and most of them were from the previous freshmen team we had.”

Bontuyan said he has some reliable hitters on the team and they include Lowsayatee, Gia, junior Takia Martinez and sophomores Sara Side and Haiden Peyketewa.

“I really trust the ladies,” Bontuyan said. “We’ve been practicing for almost three months. I know we have to make adjustments; we still need work on agility and we need to play smarter.”

With the district openers held this past Tuesday, the Zuni coach is expecting another tug-of-war battle for the league crown. Last season, Crownpoint and Zuni finished 1-2 and they made the 3A state play-in game.

“It’s going to be the same thing,” Bontuyan said of the district race. “Navajo Prep is going to be good.

“Not only Navajo Prep, the rest of the teams in the district are going to be good,” he said. “That’s why we need to prepare more.”

Like his counterpart, White said the league crown is going to be a dogfight.

“I think it’s anyone’s district to win right now,” White said. “Navajo Prep had a really strong preseason. Our game with ‘Prep on Thursday is one to look at.

“It’s going to be a challenging task and we’re up for it,” he said.

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