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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Wednesday, October 4, 2000
Playoffs no sure thing for Eagles after loss
PECOS, Oct. 4, 2000 -- Pecos Eagle volleyball players and fans who were looking
forward to the playoffs at the end of October may be in for a rude surprise,
as a post-season berth is no longer as sure thing as it looked a couple
of weeks ago, following Tuesday night's 15-13, 3-15, 15-11 loss to the
San Elizario Eagles.
"Saturday's game was all for nothing. We worked so hard to
get back into a tie for first, then we go back Tuesday and throw it
away," said Eagles' coach Becky Granado. Pecos beat El Paso Mountain View
to create a three-way tie for first on Saturday, but now find themselves
in a three-way tie for second with the Loboes, San Elizario and Fabens
after Tuesday's defeat.
San Elizario jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the opener, only to see
Pecos come back to grab 12-10 and 13-12 leads before San Eli scored
three straight points for the victory. Pecos ran away with Game 2, but in the
third game blew a 11-10 lead, as the host Eagles scored five straight points
to finish off the match.
In both cases, the critical points came while Pecos' Philly Fobbs
was on the back line, and Granado said in order for Pecos to turn things
around, one of her other hitters is going to have to come through over the
final five district games.
"When Philly was up at the net last night we scored 30 points.
When she goes to the back line, we only scored nine," Granado said. "All
my other hitters had 35 attempts, and they had 11 kills, but they also
had 11 errors. Philly by herself had 35 attempts and had 20 kills and
only six errors."
Valerie Soto and Fran Martinez combined for 21 kills for San Elizario
"San Eli had more kills than Clint did in the first game, but after
that they were just trying to go over Philly," said Granado, who added
the loss was similar to their defeat at home two weeks earlier against Clint.
"It was the same as we played against Clint. We came out
struggling in the first game, then came out in the second game and put them
away and in the third game we just go back to struggling," she said. "In the
third game we fell apart. We couldn't receive their serves."
"We had a very bad practice Monday, and I told them to go
home, because what I'm seeing now is the way you'll play Tuesday night,
and sure enough…" Granado added.
Pecos is 21-8 on the season and they, San Elizario and
Mountain View are all 3-2 in district, thanks to Fabens' 15-10, 3-15, 15-11 win
over the Lobos. The Wildcats are a game in back of the Eagles and Clint
is now alone in first place, after their 15-10, 16-14 win on Tuesday
over Canutillo.
Pecos could be as high as first place or as low as fifth place by
this Saturday evening, when they begin the second half of the District
2-4A schedule with a 4:30 p.m. game in Clint against the Lions. San
Elizario also won Tuesday's junior varsity game, while Pecos took the
freshmen matchup, which began 90 minutes late when the officials failed to
show up.
Cowgirls beat Bears in district opener
PECOS, Oct. 4, 2000 -- It may have been the best game the Balmorhea Bears
volleyball team has played in Grandfalls in a long time, but coach Gary
Gallego was hoping for something even better Tuesday, in the district opener
for both teams.
"I was hoping we could come out with a win," said Gallego of his
team, which dropped a 15-11, 15-13 decision to the Cowgirls on Tuesday.
Grandfalls and Wink have dominated the Bears' district over
the past several years, and have also been the running for state
tournament berths, so Tuesday's game was a big improvement
for Balmorhea compared with their most recent trips to Grandfalls.
But Balmorhea was unable to hold onto a 7-0 lead in the first game and saw
the Cowgirls pull away at the finish of the second game to get the victory.
"One of our problems all year has been trying to get a killer instinct
into the girls," Gallego said. "We get
an opponent down 7-0 and then we let them get back into it."
Grandfalls tied the game at 8-all, and were able to pull away at
the finish. In the second game, it was Balmorhea that fell behind early,
3-0, before tying things at 3-3.
"There were six lead changes. It just went back and forth,"
said Gallego. The scored was tied at 13-13 with Balmorhea serving when
Julia Garlick was called for a net violation while trying to spike an overset
by Grandfalls. Balmorhea then hit their next kill out for fall behind 14-13
and then lost on an ace serve by the Cowgirls.
"Our kill rate was very poor. We only had 24 kills in 84
attempts," Gallego said. "We had the opportunities, but we just didn't
put the ball down."
Celina Rodriguez led the Bears with 13 kills, while Garlick added four
and had 18 digs. Terri Hernandez' eight assists topped Balmorhea while
Tobi Gomez had three ace serves.
Gallego also said Chela Arredondo and Amber Briceno played
good games for Balmorhea. Arredondo got all 11 of her serves in while
Briceno added a pair of kills for the Bears, who are 11-7 on the season.
Balmorhea will play their district home opener this Saturday
against Wink, which won its district opener over Buena Vista, 15-6, 15-3.
Gallego said the game would be a 5 p.m. start, due to teacher training going
on earlier in the day.
Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
Division of Buckner News Alliance, Inc.
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
e-mail news@pecos.net
Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium.
Copyright 2000 by Pecos Enterprise
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