The Lady Panthers hosted a volleyball tournament Saturday and dominated its western Colorado competition.
Monument Valley, out of Kayenta, Ariz., however, continues to be a thorn in the Lady Panthers side.
Montezuma-Cortez High School lost in four sets last Thursday at Kayenta and welcomed the Lady Mustangs to their tourney over the weekend.
The Lady Panthers took care of 2A Mancos in the morning, 2-0 (25-18, 25-19), before dismantling Monument Valley in the first best-of-three set, 25-11.
Although the Arizona Division III Lady Mustangs arent the biggest or the quickest, theyre extremely efficient. The Lady Panthers made mistakes in sets two and three and Monument Valley made them pay. The Lady Mustangs won the next two sets and again beat M-CHS, 2-1 (11-25, 25-19, 16-14).
Volleyball is a momentum game. Its such a process, M-CHS coach Barbara Chappell said. Its more them learning how to be mentally tough and not being weak out on the court when theyre struggling with things. Its the part of the game that is the hardest.
Monument Valley (7-0) won all three of its matches in the tournament. The Lady Mustangs beat 4A Delta, 2-1 (20-25, 25-17, 15-9) and the Piedra Vista (Farmington, N.M.) JV, 2-0 (25-6, 25-18).
Theyre traditionally a very good school, Chappell said about the northern Arizona team.
M-CHS (4-3) certainly had its chances to knock off Monument Valley. The Lady Panthers held a 13-9 lead in the final set and had all the momentum.
Lady Mustangs coach Pamela Chapman called timeout to settle her team down. It turned out it was M-CHS that wasnt composed, as it committed consecutive errors out of the timeout to bring Monument Valley within 13-11.
The Lady Mustangs capitalized with three straight kills to take a 14-13 lead. Devon Biery spiked a kill on the left side for M-CHS to knot the score at 14.
In the end, it was Monument Valley who scored the final two points to steal the match from the dejected Lady Panthers.
It was nice to play them to see that we could do so well, Chappell said. It was a heartbreaker and it makes me a little frustrated, but I think the girls pulled it together.
M-CHS came back a couple hours later to play a disappointed Delta Lady Panthers squad, who, too, lost a tough match to the Lady Mustangs.
The home court Lady Panthers were fired up and punched an emotional Delta team in the gut. M-CHS exacted some revenge winning 2-0 (25-11, 25-15). Delta ended the Lady Panthers 2011 season at regionals.
I just felt like we got it all together. Everything just came together and everything went really well, M-CHS outside hitter Nickelle Oliver said. Our motto is Just do it. We came back and just did it. We have a lot more strength on our team.
The last match of the day pitted M-CHS against 2A Dolores. The Lady Bears put up a fight.
Dolores took an early 5-4 lead behind Cydney McHenry and Courtney Blackmer. But the 4A Lady Panthers responded behind Danielle Waltman and Oliver spiking timely kills. Oliver was a defensive force in the middle blocking the Lady Bears at will.
The Lady Panthers built a 24-16 lead and won the first set 25-19.
In the second frame, M-CHS led 7-4 and appeared to be in control.
Not so fast.
Dolores went on an 8-1 run to snag a 12-8 lead, much to the delight of the visiting Lady Bears fans who made the 11-mile drive. Chappell called timeout.
After two Dolores errors, Oliver blocked McHenry and Waltman hit a serving ace to tie the score at 12. Two Lady Bears errors put M-CHS back on top 14-12.
With the score tied at 15, the Lady Panthers again wore out the Lady Bears with a 5-0 spurt. An Elana Bernholtz kill pulled Dolores within 22-20, but that was as close as the Lady Bears would get.
Dolores is tough. Theyre a good team,Chappell said. We dont take anything for granted.
M-CHS will head to Farmington on Friday and Saturday for the two-day Piedra Vista High School tournament.
bobbya@cortezjournal.com.