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Home / Sports News / It’s volleyball Tournament of Champions time when the 16-field pool play begins Friday morning at co-hosts Santa Fe High and Capital High

It’s volleyball Tournament of Champions time when the 16-field pool play begins Friday morning at co-hosts Santa Fe High and Capital High

Demonettes prepare by winning in four sets over Los Alamos Wednesday at Griffin gymnasium

Arnie Leshin

By ARNIE LESHIN, Santa Fe Today

It was good preparation for Santa Fe High Wednesday as the annual volleyball Tournament of Champions begins Friday morning.

The Demonettes advanced to 5-1 by turning back Los Alamos in four sets at Griffin gymnasium. The scores were 25-18, 19-25, 25-16, 25-22 and it was an impressive warm-up match for veteran head coach Sam Estrada’s team.

It is co-host of the tournament with Capital High in a field of 16.

Pool play begins Friday morning at both schools, at a scheduled time of 9 o’clock.

From there, the top two teams in each pool play next in the Gold Bracket at Santa Fe High, and the others in the Silver Bracket at Capital.

In Pools A and B at Santa Fe High, the Demonettes are in Pool A with Las Vegas Robertson (3-0), Farmington (5-2) and Bernalillo (0-6). In Pool B, it’s Los Lunas (3-0), St. Michael’s (6-1), Lovington (5-5) and Belen (1-5).

In Pools C and D at Capital, there’s Santa Fe Indian School (4-1), Santa Fe Prep (3-1), St. Michael’s (6-1) and Pojoaque Valley (2-3). In Pool D, it’s Capital (3-3), Roswell Goddard (3-3), Bloomfield (4-2) and Taos (2-5).

The Demonettes got by on the play of their seniors. Salome Romp had 16 kills and 14 came from Adonica Baca-Martinez. Then there was Ysabella Trujillo with 38 assists, Adrianna Catanach with 17 digs and Baca-Martinez adding 10. Vivian Ortega contributed three kills.

Those were the seniors. Also, sophomore Ainsley Reynolds-Smith turned in six kills, a pair of blocks, and 3 ½ block assists. It was a balanced attack that knew when to hit hard and when to tip against the Hilltoppers, who dropped to 2-6.

“They were much smarter Wednesday than I have seen in the past,” Estrada said. “We were able to tip the ball and hit around them to keep them on their heels rather than just hit all the time.”

Santa Fe High is one of eight schools in the field with winning records. Two are at .500. and one is winless. The unbeatens are Bernaillo and Los Lunas.

Surprisingly, Piedra Vista, yearly one of the better teams in the state, comes in with a losing record. Same with Pojoaque. The Panthers have not had a losing season in 17 years under head coach Ron Becker. They are 192-55 in that span, and have lost in three state championships. They were 19-5 last year.

As for Pojoaque Valley, it was won five state championships and has had only two losing seasons in the last dozen. It went 16-8 last season and has had seven seasons with 20 or more victories.

Each pool has balance, although in past years, there have been many surprises when a school that didn’t figure, gets to the Gold Bracket, and some have even advanced to the Saturday afternoon championship match.

The semifinals in the Gold Bracket will be played at 11 a.m. In the Silver Bracket, the semis are scheduled for 9 a.m. But everyone gets a chance to finish either first, third, fifth and seventh. The consolation final is set for 1 p.m. at Capital.

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