Storm slay Demons in top-ranked clash

RIO RANCHO – They may have had a couple of hiccups out of the gate, but the Cleveland Storm (7-2) have been rolling through opponents for a while now. Last night, it was Santa Fe High School’s (8-1) turn as the Storm tore through them, grabbing a straight-set 3-0 win over the visiting Demons (25-23, 25-5, 25-10).

The Demons came out of the gate hot, staying toe-to-toe with the Storm in the first set. Santa Fe’s size and power at the net were able to hold Cleveland in check and force a number of CHS errors.

“Always, in the first set, we just love to score points for our opponent,” said Storm head Coach Charity Gomez after the game. “I say we are either in a battle to 25 or a race to 25, and when we start scoring points for the other team, we are in a battle to 25. And that’s just what the first set was. I guess we like to get down 6 or 7 points and then we wake up and come back.”

The Storm certainly cleaned things up between Set 1 and Set 2 and proceeded to dominate the Demons the rest of the way.

Defensively, junior middle blocker Aaliyah Simpson was a mobile brick wall at the net, totaling a team-high four blocks. Opposite hitter Emma Wild appeared to be fully recovered from her lower leg injury. Her eight digs and four kills were essential to the Storm victory. Future Arizona State Sundevil Ceci Vance had one of her stronger defensive showings with 11 digs. Junior Azlynn Tittmann nearly tied Vance with 10 digs of her own.

Vance and Tittmann were also effective on the attack. Vance scored 12 kills on 23 attempts. Tittmann was 8 on 18.

The Storm service was on point, with middle blocker Kelsey Hefner harnessing her intense power and notching five aces in the process. Vance got four.

“When we force the opponents to score their own points, it's hard for them,” said Gomez.

The Storm came into the match with something to prove. An initial rough start to the season has given way in recent weeks to the powerhouse the Storm were forecast to be in the preseason.

On the list of the Storm’s recent accolades is a huge win last week against their top APS rival, the La Cueva Bears, a win that grabbed CHS the Metro Championship Gold Bracket trophy.

“Cleveland's frontline is awesome with an array of powerful hitters,” said RRPS Athletic Director Todd Resch after the Storm’s big win. “What I was most impressed with (at the Metro Championship) was each player's ability to dig the hard-driven spikes from La Cueva. The team's overall effort was impressive, and I was glad to witness their championship.”

And yet, when the rankings came out on Monday, Sept. 16 (via MaxPreps.com), the Storm remained at No. 3. La Cueva (previously second) and Santa Fe (fourth) simply switched places. (No. 1 Las Cruces, No. 2 Santa Fe, No. 3 Cleveland, No. 4 La Cueva.) A win in the APS Metro Championship didn’t appear to affect their ranking at all.

The undefeated Santa Fe Demons were standing in their way.

“It’s not that I look at that stuff all the time,” said Gomez. “It’s more like, we won (the Metro Championship), and you want to be excited for a little bit, but then I looked, and it’s like, ‘Dang, we have Santa Fe on Tuesday. They’re good! They’re undefeated.’”

The Demons have been dominant this season, but their top win was against the Rio Rancho Rams (6-2). The Rams recently won the Metro Championship Silver Bracket and are starting to heat up.

“(RRHS) swept Eldorado ... and played very well together in defeating Rio Grande for the Silver Bracket Championship,” Resch said of the Rams' recent success. “I continue to be impressed with the team's balance and chemistry.”

Santa Fe shares a district with La Cueva, so their non-district schedule tends to be softer than their district opponents.

On the other side, the Storm have top-ranked talent in Vance, Kelsey Hefner and Wild, as well as plenty of big wins and tough losses on their resume. They are battle tested. And it showed on Tuesday night.

“When you look at it, their strength-of-schedule was a nine and ours was a 17.5,”Gomez said.

Despite the strength-of-schedule, Gomez said she and her squad prepared and were mindful of getting too comfortable. They were ready for the Demons.

“But I watched film for the last two days and I knew (Santa Fe) had offense. Sometimes success breeds complacency. And I was likeb ‘We can't (rest) because we have Santa Fe.’ So, we were ready.”

Next, CHS heads to Sandia (1-8). The Matadors are on a six-game losing streak and will hope to get right against (what appears to be) an overwhelming Cleveland Storm team.