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Capital High at Albuquerque Academy in District Volleyball Tournament

Capital High lands Saturday night spot in District 2-5A volleyball tournament final at Albuquerque Academy, match scheduled for 6 o’clock start

Teams went at it in two previous tight matches between the first place Chargers and runner-up Jaguars

Arnie Leshin

By ARNIE LESHIN,  Santa Fe Today

Fresh off a fourth win over Los Alamos — three via sweeps – Capital High’s volleyball team has one thing in mind, and that’s to defeat Albuquerque Academy in Saturday night’s District 2-5A tournament final.

No one is certain of the last time the Jaguars advanced this far, not even head coach Max Vargas, but it doesn’t matter because, despite an 11-10 overall record, this team finished second to the Chargers, but has no fear whatsoever of taking to the road to match-up again.

The last time they played was in the next-to-last match of the regular season and Capital actually came close to sweeping the home side. It won the first two sets, the second one by nine games, and led by two late in set three when the Chargers charged back to squeak through that one and win the final two sets.

In their first meet at Capital, the Jags again won the first set, but Academy took the next three, and all were rather close.

They have a size advantage over us,” Vargas said, “and will have the home crowd, but our girls play big and it doesn’t bother them to play on the road. They are eager for this. They call themselves, ‘All family,’ and are confident.”

Los Alamos, which finished last in district during the regular season, had surprised third place Albuquerque Del Norte on the road, fourth place Espanola Valley on the road, and then thought it could also turn back Capital, which had first defeated the Hilltoppers, 3-1, in a tournament, and then three-straight times at 3-0.

The last one came on the Jaguar court Thursday night, and it was 25-20, 25-11, 25-22.

“We were a little jittery at first,” said Vargas, “and were even saying how nervous they were, didn’t want to make mistakes, but then they overcame their jitters and did very well. It also helped that we had a pretty good turnout.”

It was a total team effort for Capital. Seniors Sophia Garcia, Ishara Sorensen and Gabby Ornelas had eight kills each, Garcia was credited with 25 assists, one more than senior Maya Wero, with Ornelas and Sorensen giving out 18 each.

Five blocks came to Sorensen and four were by Ornelas. Baca led the way with 20 digs, five more than Garcia, and in serving aces, Baca had two. Baca also contributed 16 serving returns and 15 came from Garcia.

Regardless of the results in the final, on the basis of winning the regular season, Academy would get the higher seed, but a win for the Jaguars would bring a higher seed for them and more recognition.

Match time is scheduled for 6 o’clock.

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