Texico, Melrose aim for volleyball repeats

As routine as it may seem for the Texico and Melrose volleyball teams to compete for state championships, it’s not at all easy.

Texico won its fourth straight 3A crown last year, finishing 21-4. Melrose made its fourth consecutive state-championship appearance and won its second title during that stretch, winding up 19-7.

But state titles are a brick-by-brick construction job. The Lady Wolverines aren’t even looking ahead to a possible fifth title run in November yet.

“I don’t pay attention to that,” Texico’s 10th-year head coach Kristen Scanlan said. “I think our girls are more concerned about the journey and getting better. As we go down the road, I think that will become more important to them, but right now we’re on a journey to get better as a team and closer as a team.”

Melrose isn’t looking ahead, either. But the Lady Buffaloes do have that destination cemented in the back of their heads.

“That’s the goal we set as a team when we started,” Buffs fifth-year head coach Casey Jackson said. “It’s going to be a bit of a work in progress because we have some players playing different positions than they did last year and two coming in who are finding their way into the mix. But we had a really good summer and a good scrimmage on Saturday. So I think all the tools are there, as long as they don’t plateau and they keep up the work ethic.”

While Texico doesn’t get going until a tournament in Moriarty the weekend of September 7-8, Melrose opens on Thursday night at Tucumcari.

“It’s a bigger school,” Jackson said. “We played them in the summer and we beat them in the summer, but that doesn’t always reflect how good they’re going to be.”

The Lady Buffaloes, who will play in District 6-1A, return all but three players from last year’s championship team. Senior Kiki Roybal is a libero as of now and should play a bit at setter, her position last year. Juniors Brette DeVaney (outside hitter), Nataley Mondragon (middle blocker) and Deajha Downey (outside hitter) are quality returners. Sophomore Hailey Martin (middle blocker) is another integral returnee.

“So I’ve got a good core group,” Jackson said.

Sophomores Anjalina Sanchez and Pyper Belcher did see some solid playing time last year. Sanchez, in fact, had to step in and play most of the championship game after starter Hannah Wofford became violently ill on the court. “She did a really good job,” Jackson said of Sanchez, “and she’s playing solid for us so far (this year).”

The Lady Wolverines, who will play in District 7-2A, bring back four players who were key to last year’s run: senior setter/hitter Baylee Sours; junior middle hitter/defender Riley Thompson; senior outside hitter/defender Shabry Boone; and senior Jasmine Davalos, who is a libero this year after serving as a defensive specialist last season.

The Wolverines also have five seniors who should contribute quite a bit: setter/hitter Macey Tharp; hitter Montana Thatcher — who can also play numerous other positions; middle blocker Kaitlyn Roderick; defensive specialist Kaytlyn Queener; and hitter Alexus Hill, who is injured but is expected to return some time in the next few weeks.

Sours, Thompson, Davalos and Hill were not only part of last year’s volleyball championship, they all contributed to a basketball state title in March. So there’s a little extra championship swagger there.

In addition, the varsity team will be infused with youth from last year’s jayvee squad that went 17-0. They may not be looking ahead to a fifth straight crown yet, but the Lady Wolverines certainly seem equipped to win it.

“I think we have a good base to do that,” Scanlan said. “Our division this year is very, very competitive. There are probably about 8 to 10 teams that are good enough to make that run. Our schedule is full of good teams, so we’ll see very quickly.”

The Grady Bronchos are going through their first year of a cooperative agreement with the San Jon and House school districts.

With several unfamiliar faces, first-year coach Rebecca Burns emphasized the players getting to know each other.

“We kind of made it a point to get together more so we could work together on the court better,” she said.

The Bronchos have three returning starters from Grady: setter and hitter Leah Starbuck, outside hitter Yara Sotelo and outside hitter Timia Northcutt. Burns said she’s also counting on sophomore middle hitter Taryn Foote of San Jon.

“I think our strength is our quickness, and we’re trying to run the offense with that in mind,” Burns said. “We also have two pretty strong setters, so I think we’ll do well with that.”

— Ron Warnick contributed to this report