The Estancia volleyball turned in a noteworthy performance at the state volleyball tournament last week in Rio Rancho, winning twice and stretching fifth-seeded Hagerman to the limit in the opening set in the elimination match before falling.
The eighth-seeded Bears (14-11) swept both No. 9 Santa Rosa (27-25, 25-18, 25-23) and 10th-seeded Questa (25-19, 25-19-25-14), in between losing to top-ranked Cloudcroft (25-21, 25-19, 25-20).
“I think against Cloudcroft, we had them scared,” Estancia coach Alicia Pope said. “We didn’t win, but that’s the best I’ve seen us play. Fundamentally, we were the better team, but we just didn’t have the hitters that they have. They just have phenomenal hitters. It was kind of us just picking up what they were putting down. Overall, we played really well.”
Against the Bobcats, Estancia again scrambled and fought before running out of gas in losing 29-27, 25-17, 25-14.
The Bears were bolstered by the performance of its six seniors, Pope said.
“It is going to be hard to replace a couple of them,” she said. “But I was glad they were able to make it to state, which we haven’t been able to do the last few years. I was glad that we played as well as we did.”
The six seniors have been helping spur a renaissance within the Estancia girls programs, Pope said.
“They were telling me, ‘We want to see Estancia sports, the girls program, we want to build it back it up,'” Pope said. “They started with softball in the spring and it carried into volleyball. I can’t wait to see what these girls do when they go on to basketball and softball and track. Estancia girls athletics, have been good in the past We lost it there for awhile (because of the pandemic shutdowns) and I really believe it’s coming back and I’m excited to see what they’re see what they’re going to do.”
As for the volleyball program, while the Bears will be in a bit of a rebuilding situation, Pope is confident the program has started to become more self-sustaining.
“I’m really looking forward to the next few years,” she said. “We’ve got a lot of girls who are going to be returning to varsity. And we’ve got a strong offense coming up and our defense has always been what has really, really kept us going. We have a lot of kids coming up who are great athletes and have good attitudes.”
VOLLEYBALL NOTE: Bears outside hitter Dezlyn Carreon and Moriarty athlete Miranda Quintana were both named to the New Mexico High School Coaches Association All-Star teams. The games will be played Nov. 25 at Bernalillo High School, with the 1A/2A game starting at 11 a.m. and the 3A/4A game starting at 1 p.m. East Mountain coach Kaci Giovenco will be the coach for the 3A/4A green team.