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Van Horn Advocate
On Tuesday, the Eagles did the same thing -- but just barely -- in their
1997 regular season openers at the Pecos High School gym.
The Eagles appeared ready to make Granado wait until at least this
weekend to get her first victory as varsity head coach, after losing
their opening match to Alpine in two games, and coming within a point of
another sweep by Odessa High. But Pecos was able to hold off match
point, rallying to win, 17-15, before jumping out to an 8-2 lead in the
deciding game and going on for a 15-5 victory.
"We started blocking more in the last two games," said Granado, who
moved up from the junior varsity to replace longtime head coach Nora
Geron. "I think the turning point was when Ivy (Thorp) went in and got
them pumped up, and that started getting everybody else up.
"But we're still so out of shape," she added. "I told them they're going
to be running a lot. I said we're going to do agilities tomorrow
(today), and we're not even going to touch a volleyball."
The Eagles' conditioning problems could be seen in their final game
against Alpine and in their first two against OHS. Pecos held late leads
all three times only to see the Bucks and Bronchos rally.
Alpine used an 8-0 run in the opener to turn a 7-5 deficit into a 13-7
lead, on the way to a 15-9 victory. The Bucks then came back from a
14-12 deficit to beat Pecos in Game 2, 16-14, and OHS then did the same
in their opener against the Eagles, rallying from a 13-10 hole to win,
16-14.
In the second game, the Bronchos were down 13-8, tied things at 13-all,
then got to match point at 15-14 after a Thorp block on Shelby
Fitzgerald gave Pecos a brief 14-13 lead. However, unlike the first two
times, the Eagles were able to break serve this time around, tying it on
a bad set by Melissa Munoz, then winning it off a block of Lindsey Casey
by Lori Marquez and a spike by Marisol Arenivas.
Outside of a few hard hits by Thorp, the Eagles couldn't get anything
going on offense against Alpine. Marquez, Pecos' returning all-state
hitter, couldn't put down a solid shot until midway through the second
game against OHS, while Alpine's 5-foot-4 and 5-foot-5 spikers Celia
Garcia and Aimee Ramirez were able to consistently hit over the taller
Eagles in the opening match. Pecos' setters also had problems in the
early going, when they were whistled for violations several times.
On the plus side, along with Thorp, Marquez and Gail Taylor also had
blocks for points in the final two games against Odessa High, Arenivas
was able to place several soft shots over the OHS blockers in the second
match, and Taylor, Annette Marquez and LaCrisha Molinar had aces in the
deciding game against the Bronchos.
While Granado plans more conditioning work on her team, both Alpine and
OHS can cite exhaustion as a reason they missed chances at a sweep.
After beating Pecos, the Bucks stayed on the court for three games
against the Bronchos before losing, 15-11, 4-15, 16-14. Odessa High then
remained on the court to play Pecos, after the Eagles got in a 90-minute
rest.
The three JV matches on the adjacent court at the Pecos High School gym
were over midway through the Alpine-OHS match. Pecos opened up by
sweeping Alpine, 15-4, 15-6, the Odessa High swept the Bucks and Eagles.
They beat Alpine, 15-12, 15-1, then downed Pecos, 15-6, 15-5.
Over at the old gym, the Eagles' freshmen were also splitting their
matches against the Bucks and Bronchos. Pecos' ninth grade gold team
defeated Alpine, 8-15, 15-13, 15-13, while the purple team fell in three
games to Odessa High's sophomores, 8-15, 15-6, 15-10.
Pecos' freshmen will now go to Monahans for the Sandhills Volleyball
Tournament on Thursday and Saturday, while the JV and varsity go to
Odessa for the Ector County ISD Tournament on Friday and Saturday.
Pecos will face Midland High at 9 a.m., Wink at 1 p.m. and El Paso
Austin at 3 p.m. in pool round play at Permian High School, while the JV
plays at Odessa High against Wink at 9 a.m., Abilene Cooper at 12 noon and Permian's sophomores at 1 p.m.
The Cowboys apologized immediately for the damage and vowed to pay for
any repairs, said John Lucas, vice president for student affairs at the
small Catholic school.
The Cowboys have trained at the Austin school for eight years, and
sources say the team will return next year, despite speculation to the
contrary.
Lucas said Tuesday there is always a small amount of damage to the dorm
after the team leaves.
``What we normally see is what you see on a college campus when a group
of students exit,'' Lucas said.
``This year, we saw more damage. The cameras were forcibly taken out.
There was water, pretty heavily soaked into the carpet, and in one area
of the hall, there was an obvious stench of urine.''
Cowboys spokesman Rich Dalrymple said he didn't know anything about the
extent of the damage other than ``some ceiling panels in need of
repair.''
Dalrymple said he was not aware of any cameras being ripped out.
``Security cameras fall under the matters of security, which is not
something we talk about,'' he said.
``Every year we inspect the dorms as a part of the checkout procedure
and if there is anything that needs to be replaced or repaired that gets
taken care of at our expense,'' Dalrymple said.
Lucas said Cowboys officials apologized immediately and agreed to pay
for repairs.
``The team apologized and expressed regret and said any cost that we
incurred they would pick up,'' Lucas said.
``It disappointed us. It appeared that this was a pretty quiet training
camp, and it's unfortunate that this occurred on the last evening and
marred what was a pretty smooth-running camp.''
Jones has spent the past several months attempting to repair the team's
image, blackened by arrests and drug suspensions over the past three
years.
The first two weeks of camp were peaceful, but the final two were marred
by coach Barry Switzer's arrest on a gun charge and rape allegations
against Nate Newton leveled by a Dallas-area woman who had a longtime
relationship with the married offensive guard. Newton's lawyer has
called it extortion.
When asked if the dorm incident would affect the school's desire to have
the team back next year, Lucas said, ``I think it goes into the mix.
``When we put the pluses and minuses down, this certainly goes into the
minus side, but it would be hard to say what impact it has on the larger
issue of renewal.''
The Associated Press reported Monday that the team plans to return to
Austin next year, but might move its camp to El Paso as early as 1999 if
the border city follows through with plans to build a resort where the
team could train.
Pecos Enterprise
Mac McKinnon, 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
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Copyright 1997 by Pecos Enterprise
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