The Class 2A San Juan Basin District Tournament started with a surprise.
Hosting the tournament, the Dolores Bears fiurst played Ignacio.
The Bears were 0-2 against the Bobcats in the regular season, and Ignacio lost only one league game all year.
However, after dropping the first game to Ignacio, Dolores ran off three wins to win the match (23-25, 25-20, 25-22, 25-14).
“We had a couple of lineup switches that went in our favor,” said coach Gina Hollen. “Then they were just able to capitalize off of Ignacio’s mistakes.”
The Mancos Blue Jays were swept in their first match against the ranked Ridgway Demons (11-25, 17-25, 17-25), and both Mancos and Dolores fell in three games during their second matches.
The Bears dropped three straight to Ridgway (18-25, 11-25, 13-25), while the Blue Jays fell to Ignacio (22-25, 14-25, 11-25).
In each team’s final game of the day, the Blue Jays and Bears faced off.
Dolores freshman Tatum Majors started the first game with a kill, and later, served up consecutive aces to give the Bears an early 9-2 lead.
Mancos’ Taryn Gordanier tapped in a kill to stop the run, and freshman Mackenzie Benitez’ ace cut the Bears’ lead to 11-6.
But the Bears followed with a run that included spikes from Josie Majors and Cameron Elder and aces from Larissa Umberger and Sierra Schwartz to lengthen the gap to 19-12.
Umberger set freshman Aryelle Wright for a spike to make it 20-12, then Wright closed out the game serving to secure a 25-12 win.
Umberger and Schwartz gave Dolores an early lead with aces in game two, but Nichole Hess and Gordanier kept Mancos in it with kills.
Trailing 23-16, Mancos’ Taylor Power-Bahr went on a run that included three aces to cut the lead to 23-20, but the Bears closed it out to win 25-20.
After taking the first two games, Dolores carried momentum into game three, winning 25-13 and sweeping the set.
The Blue Jays were winless on the day, ending their season at 4-19.
With wins over Ignacio and Mancos, the Bears finished districts in second, and advance to the Class 2A Region C Tournament in Cedaredge, against Cedaredge and West Grand.