The Ropes Lady Eagles volleyball team dropped their season opener at home against Sterling City on Tuesday, losing the match 2-3.
The Lady Eagles were able to win the first two sets before Sterling City turned the tide, sweeping the final three sets.
Head Coach Jonathon Montanez gave his thoughts on what happened in the loss.
“I feel like we just got comfortable. Volleyball is a game about momentum and energy; you could just tell that it swung the other way,” Montanez said. “That’s just down to it. We had some good swings here and there. We fought our way back in that fourth set and then just couldn’t put the nail in the coffin. It was more of just mental mistakes than really anything and its stuff that we can fix.”
Ropes was clearly more than capable of winning that match, but complacency killed the energy on the night.
Montanez acknowledged that getting too comfortable in matches was a problem in the 2024 season for his girls, a trend that he’s determined to end for his volleyball program.
“The biggest thing is just making sure that we don’t let any opponents come back. We come out pretty good, second set, we get adjusted, third set we get a little comfortable,” Montanez said. “I think it’s just making sure we’re bringing that energy throughout the whole game and being able to put teams away, instead of letting them hang around.”
The priority for this team moving forward will be to execute complete matches and finish teams off.
Although the result was a loss, Montanez still made a point to recognize his girls who performed well on Tuesday night.
“Braeydn Reyna, she was able to command that back row and I wish we got her going a little bit more. Brylee Lauderdale was going well, and I feel like we also got away from her after the first couple, I should’ve fed her a little bit more,” Montanez said. “It is what it was, but I feel like those two yesterday were the ones that were on.”
The junior duo left their mark on the match and according to coach they could’ve left an even bigger one.
Reyna, #5, recorded 10 serves and an ace, while Lauderdale, #8, had eight serves.
A few more standout girls were freshmen Lily Greer, #9, who had a team high 18 blocks and junior Allye Bandy, #6, who led the team with 21 serves and tied for a team high with three aces.
Great job to all the girls on their impact plays, which we’ll probably see a lot more of as the season progresses.
This weekend the Lady Eagles play in a tournament in Benjamin and then they’ll return home this upcoming Tuesday on August 19 for a match against Tatum (New Mexico) Coyotes.
The varsity match begins at 6 p.m. and junior varsity plays before at 5 p.m.
Come out and support Ropes volleyball this Tuesday.