The Ropes Lady Eagles volleyball team played a doubleheader against Wellman Union and Borden County this past Tuesday, sweeping both teams.
They played Wellman Union first, winning the three sets 25-13, 25-17 and 25-16. Within the first sweep, numerous Lady Eagles shined, and it showed on the stat sheet.
Lila Forsythe recorded four aces, seven kills and five blocks, Vivian Gallegos recorded six aces and six digs, Braedyn Reyna recorded 11 digs and three assists, Addi Crunk recorded three aces and seven assists, and Allye Bandy recorded 11 assists, two aces and five kills.
You would think with such a full stat sheet and lopsided box score that it couldn’t get much better, but they dominated even more in the second game.
In the sweep against Borden County, they won the three sets 25-11, 25-6 and 25-11.
In that game, Forsythe, Reyna and Bandy once again all stood out on the stat sheet as Forsythe tallied two aces and six kills, Reyna tallied two kills and four assists and Bandy tallied nine aces, six kills and nine assists.
While plenty of his athletes performed well in the doubleheader, Head Coach Jon Montanez acknowledged his two players who contributed the most in the wins.
“One big player that really got us going because she had a bunch of blocks was Lila Forsythe, our starting middle. She was really big, a stone wall, and anything at the net was just getting blocked by her,” Montanez said. “Another top player was Braedyn Reyna, my libero, there was one specific play she made in the first set of the first game where she hustled and dove with her touch and got it over and then right after that, they swung into Lila’s block to end the set. It was a nice way to end and gain momentum because the girls were all excited and stoked.”
The duo’s impact cannot be overstated, especially given the importance of momentum for this squad.
Coach Montanez has previously acknowledged after several hot starts his team has struggled with getting complacent and comfortable, which the team is actively aware of and working on.
So, for those girls to get the momentum rolling enough for it to not be stopped, is a very big deal.
Forsythe and Reyna may be leading the way with their performances, but Coach Montanez stated that all his girls are stepping into leadership roles.
“I feel like all of them are developing themselves as a leader and they take it upon themselves as soon as we get into a comfortable state, when they know I’m about to call a time out, to flip it and they do well on that,” Montanez said.
They successfully played complete games and kept momentum against those smaller schools as a tune up and now they look to do it against higher level competition at the Fillie Festival tournament in Denver City.
As the tournament takes place from August 28-30, the Lady Eagles look to build their momentum even further.
Then following the tournament, the Lady Eagles head on the road again to Littlefield this Tuesday for another doubleheader against Littlefield and Vega.