Volleyball heats up in the final stretch

RIO RANCHO (Oct. 15, 2024) — The crowd was cheering, but not as loud as the players, as the Cleveland Storm rolled over district rivals Piedra Vista at home (25-12, 25-9, 25-16). It might seem like the lopsided match would lead to some negative feelings, but both sides were laughing and having fun. The result may have been a tough loss on the scoreboard, but it was a fun night on the court.

“I feel like we are getting excited about really great volleyball,” said Storm head coach Charity Gomez after the match. “When somebody like Aaliyah get in there, she opens up the net and it gives Ceci [Vance] and Kelsey [Hefner] room to bounce it to the floor.”

It was the relief the Storm (15-2, 4-0 in 5A-1) needed as they head into the final stretch of the season before the State Championship. They’ve been on a roll, rattling off 13 straight wins (as of early Oct. 22) and grabbing the top spot in the MaxPrep rankings, over undefeated Las Cruces (17-0). According to MaxPreps, Cleveland has had a much tougher schedule, a 20.1 strength-of-schedule (STR) to the Bulldawgs 13.5.

Piedra Vista is 10-7, but 0-4 in district and seem resigned to a lower seed. They fought hard but made sure to have fun at the same time.

Two days later, the Storm got a real test, heading into a hostile environment on the road against rivals the Volcano Vista Hawks. The crowd was raucous and loud, but just as with Piedra Vista, the Storm matched the intensity of the game, this time in the other direction.

Gomez had her squad hit the court with a no-nonsense attitude that served them well as they defeated the Hawks quickly and easily in the first two sets: 25-9 and 24-14.

By the third set, the Hawks appeared to have recovered from the fast start and put up a huge rally to nearly steal a set from the surging Storm. But it proved too little too late, and the Storm won the third, and final, set 25-23.

Cleveland will see these two opponents again before the regular season ends on Nov.7. First, the Storm heads to Farmington to face Piedra Vista on Oct. 31. Then they turn around and face Volcano Vista again, this time in the Thunderdome.

The Rams (11-6, 3-1 in 5A-1) are starting to hit their stride as well, though they had a bit of a tougher week.

On Oct. 15, Rio Rancho High School had a brutal road match against the Cibola Cougars that lasted five sets before the Rams were eventually defeated (28-26, 19-25, 25-20, 14-25, 7-15). After a battle in the first set, the Rams appeared to be cruising to the win. But they let their guards down and the Cougars managed to rally to win the final two sets for a heart-breaking Rams loss.

If the Storm got the chance to show they can match the energy of any match in which they play, the Rams got the chance to show their resilience. Two days later, they had to turn around and face the Piedra Vista Panthers.

Like their Storm sisters, the Rams did what good teams do: they took care of business. The Rams rolled to a 3-0 win and firmly bounced back (25-10, 25-14, 25-11).

“We earned a lot of points tonight,” said head coach Toby Manzanares after the match. “We were really aggressive from the service line. That what I was most proud of; we were able to put some balls through some good seams and really disrupt their rhythm.”

The Storm and the Rams both have six games remaining as of Oct. 22, and that includes two games against one another (Oct. 22 and Nov. 7).

As the NMAA State Championship draws nearer (Nov. 14-16) the Rio teams are only getting stronger and Coach Gomez has some words of warning for any potential giant-killers.

“If you can’t serve us tough, it’s gonna be a long night for you.”