Familiar foes Dolores and Mancos met up for a rivalry match on Tuesday.
After winning in their first meeting earlier this season, the Bears swept the Blue Jays in three games, making their record 11-3 against Mancos in the last five years.
Dolores jumped out to an early lead in game one, and rode the momentum on to a 25-8 win.
Josie Majors had two spikes during a seven-point serve streak by Sierra Schwartz, and freshman Tatum Majors sealed the win with a block.
The Blue Jays came out swinging in game two, and a block by Taryn Gordanier and kills by Jessica Gutierrez and Morgan Rose kept them close, trailing 6-11.
But Dolores freshman Aryelle Wright went on a serve run to extend the Bears’ lead to 17-6.
Gutierrez erased what would have been a Dolores kill with a diving dig, and junior Nicole Hess stopped the Bears’ run with a kill of her own, jump starting a Blue Jays’ comeback.
A combination of Morgan Rose serves, an Anna Cox kill and a Gordanier spike narrowed the Dolores lead to four, 21-17. But Wright thumped in a spike and the Bears closed out the set, winning 25-20.
After jumping out to a 5-1 lead on a Schwartz ace and a spike by Wright in game three, Dolores allowed Mancos to pull even at 6-6 on a Gordanier kill.
Dolores senior Larissa Umberger beautifully set up Wright for a spike to regain the lead, then Josie Majors dropped in consecutive aces during a six-point serve streak to give the Bears a 13-6 advantage.
The Blue Jays continued to scrap, and back-to-back Gorandier kills kept them close, before Dolores junior Alyana Frasier served an ace to give the Bears their biggest lead of the game, 19-11.
Mancos went on a run to trim the margin to four, 21-17, before the Bears finished it off with a 25-19 win.
Josie Majors led Dolores with seven kills in the match, and her younger sister, Tatum, led the Bears with four blocks, while Umberger again led the team in assists with 19.
Dolores moves to 7-7 on the season with the win, and Mancos falls to 2-13, and both teams have two more games this week.
Dolores hosts Dove Creek on Thursday and Ridgway on Saturday, while Mancos travels to Ignacio on Thursday before returning home for a match against Sierra Grande on Saturday.
