It wasnt home court advantage.
It wasnt the regular season.
There were no playoff implications at stake.
But it was still Dolores versus Mancos volleyball.
The two bitter rivals duked it out Saturday afternoon at the Montezuma-Cortez High School tournament in the main gym.
However, it was Dolores who appeared to be treating the match like a rivalry. The Lady Bears came out swinging with the first 15 points and easily won the first set.
Mancos woke up led most of set two and evened things up.
A third and final match to 15 declared the winner of the first of multiple meetings still to come this season.
The Lady Bluejays opened a 2-0 lead. But Dolores went on a 10-2 run spearheaded by spiking freshman Courtney Blackmer to seize control. She had four kills in the third set helping her Lady Bears win the match, 2-1 (25-6, 20-25, 15-5). All matches were best two-of-three.
They are not good mental wise, but theyre still really strong. Theyre a tough team to beat, because theyre our rivals, Blackmer said. It gives us more of a head start, because we know we can (beat Mancos) now. But we just have to have the mentality to do it.
While it didnt have the all natural Dolores-Mancos rivalry feel with screaming fans on both sides, a win over the Lady Bluejays is still a win over the Lady Bluejays (2-2, 1-0 2A San Juan Basin League).
Its nice to see them early, but were still trying to gel. Its nice to have a win, but it all comes down to when we actually play for league, Lady Bears coach Gina Hollen said.
Dolores (2-2) came off a tough two set loss to 4A Delta in the morning, 2-0 (18-25, 23-25). The 2A Lady Bears certainly got the quick pick-me-up they needed.
That first match, we kind of had too many mistakes. The intensity was a little bit lower, Hollen said. Its good experience. We got a couple young players. Were pretty decent skill wise, its just team cohesion.
Nothing went right for Mancos in the first set. A lack of communication on the court amongst a young team was very evident.
It was nerves. They just were not talking, not communicating at all with each other, Mancos coach Caroline Glover said. The second game, they started to do that more. Talking is huge, playing as a team and to have confidence in themselves. The third game, they have a great outside hitter. We just couldnt shut her (Blackmer) down.
Things got going in the second set when the Lady Bluejays stormed to a 6-3 lead. Kayla Goff and Emily Funmaker hit serving aces early on and the Lady Bluejays took advantage of Dolores miscues to build a 18-9 lead. The Lady Bears were given the next five points from Mancos mistakes to make things interesting at 18-13. A Dolores error and a Funmaker kill put Mancos back up 20-13. Dolores would get no closer than five points the rest of the set, which setup the pivotal, deciding third set.
Mancos scored the first two points in the final frame. But back came the Lady Bears. The tall, lengthy Blackmer tip killed with her left hand to give Dolores a 3-2 lead it would not relinquish. Three more Blackmer kills had the Lady Bears all of a sudden were up 11-5 and Mancos was on its last legs. Dolores would finish off its rival, 15-5.
The second game, we kind of went down a little, Blackmer said. The third game, we definitely knew that we had to go hard at the beginning.
Mancos lost the first match of the tourney to 4A M-CHS, 2-0 (18-25, 19-25). But the Lady Bluejays won their final match over the M-CHS JV, 2-0 (26-24, 25-10).
Were keeping our team positive. Were trying to keep the younger girls feel apart of the team, said Mancos senior captain Goff. I think well get it together. We were nervous about the (Dolores) game at first and then we came back. We knew what we could do. Were definitely going to be more prepared when we see them in the (conference) season.
The Lady Bluejays host 3A Bayfield (6-0, No. 3 Coloradopreps.com) on Thursday at 5 p.m.
Dolores concluded the day with the M-CHS varsity. The Lady Bears went tooth and nail with the Lady Panthers. But in the end, M-CHS was too fast and too strong, and wore down Dolores. The Lady Bears fell, 2-0 (19-25, 21-25).
Dolores opens SJBL play at home today versus Nucla (0-5) at 6:30 p.m.
bobbya@cortezjournal.com.