Tohatchi netters keep playoff hopes alive with four-set win over Crownpoint

CROWNPOINT

It’s crunch time for the Tohatchi volleyball team.

Tohatchi (12-7, 7-2 in District 1-3A play) is looking to earn a bid for the upcoming New Mexico Class 3A state volleyball tournament. The 12-team state bracket will be released Sunday, Nov. 8, with the tournament starting Thursday, Nov. 12, at the Rio Rancho Events Center and three area high schools.

“Right now, we’re sitting at No. 12 and 13,” Tohatchi fifth-year coach Jonath Gee said Thursday night. “We have some big crucial games coming up and if we can win out, I think that will guarantee us a playoff spot. It should push us into the top 10.”

On Thursday night, Tohatchi kept its playoff hopes alive with a four-set win over Crownpoint. The set scores were 21-25, 25-17, 25-13, 25-8.

“We just started to hit because we were tipping too much,” Gee said of the adjustments his team made to bounce back. “Again, this group is very young, and we have a bad habit of starting out slow, and so we had to play catchup.

“It’s kind of a mental game for us,” he added. “I mean, we need to jump ahead right away, but we’re still learning a lot of things.”

Tohatchi finished the match with 48 kills, led by junior outside hitter Myla Lee’s 13 winners. Eighth-grade middle hitter Ariah Vallo added 11 and sophomore Haylen Livingston finished with 10.

Crownpoint, meanwhile, racked up 23 kills, with 11 coming in the opening set as the young Tohatchi squad conceded a pair of runs to the Eagles to start the match.

The Eagles broke a 4-all tie and opened an 11-5 advantage following a kill by senior outside hitter Layla Pablo-Yazzie. Crownpoint kept the momentum going, building a 21-12 cushion following three kills from senior Destiny Begay, who finished with five kills.

Tohatchi closed within 23-20 before Crownpoint coach Abby Bodie called her final timeout to settle her team. The Eagles responded by scoring two of the last three points, capped by a spike from Pablo-Yazzie.

“That’s how we normally play,” Bodie said of the first set. “We had the momentum going, but we had a long week of games, and I think we just got tired and lethargic. Sometimes we were overthinking things, and we were not really wanting to move to the ball and that got us.”

Following the first set, Crownpoint recognized two of its players for reaching milestones. Pablo-Yazzie surpassed 1,000 digs, while senior setter Miley McMillan topped 500 assists.

“It’s a huge accomplishment for them,” Bodie said. “Miley has been a setter since her freshman year and Layla’s been playing varsity volleyball since eighth grade and she started out as a libero. She’s transitioned to being a hitter and she’s been wearing multiple hats.

“Miley transitioned from a setter to a hitter, and she’s back to setting,” she added.

With their teammates, the two players battled Tohatchi to a 14-14 tie in the next set. After trading sideouts, Tohatchi gained control with a late 8-1 run, with Vallo putting away four kills during that stretch for a 25-17 win.

The third set featured four early ties and three lead changes before Tohatchi used a 7-1 scoring spurt to break a 7-7 stalemate for a 14-8 advantage.

Crownpoint closed within 15-11 following an ace by sophomore Carly Martin. That was as close as the Eagles would get as Tohatchi reached the 20-point mark behind a pair of aces from Livingston.

The Tohatchi sophomore wasn’t done as she added two more aces, helping the Cougars coast to a 25-13 win.

In the fourth, Tohatchi’s Hailey Morris served 10 straight points for a 12-1 cushion. During that stretch, she added a pair of aces while Livingston peppered in three kills.

Tohatchi pushed its lead to as many as 15 points at 21-6 before winning 25-8 as the Eagles struggled with serve-receive.

“We’re learning how to place our serves,” Gee said. “We’re not just serving the ball over the net. We’re being strategic and we’re targeting serves.

“We’re learning how to read the defense, too,” he continued. “We’re teaching the hitters how to adjust to sets by reading the blocks.”

Crownpoint (7-11, 3-7) was scheduled to face Navajo Prep (14-5, 7-2) Friday, Oct. 30, in a makeup game postponed last week because of flooding in San Juan County.

Tohatchi is off until Tuesday, when it hosts Wingate before traveling to Shiprock for a rescheduled game with the Lady Chieftains on Wednesday. The Cougars will close out the regular season Thursday when Tohatchi hosts Thoreau.

“We’re taking it game by game,” Gee said. “Right now, we’re focused on Wingate, but we know Shiprock is gonna be tough. Hopefully, we can get by Shiprock, but Thoreau can be pretty tough, too.

“We just need to take the first punch and get ahead,” he added. “We have to be more aggressive and that’s part of the learning process.”

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