On Thursday evening, New Mexico Military Institute hosted Ruidoso High for their first home district match, suffering a 3-1 defeat at the Godfrey Athletic Center. With the loss, the Lady Colts dip to 9-9 on the year with a 0-2 start to district play.
Set 1
To open the match, the visiting team took an early lead with the help of some NMMI errors. After being down 4-5, the Lady Colts took charge and earned their way to a 6-5 score line. From that point on both teams battled but the Warriors were able to go on a 20-10 run as they outscored the Lady Colts in the second half of the set. Ruidoso would take the initial set 25-16.
Set 2
In the second set, Sara Pires sparked a 4-2 run to open the set as she recorded a kill which left the ground shaking. Behind the help of excellent defense, the Lady Colts were able to take a 10-6 lead and put NMMI in the driver’s seat. However, Ruidoso would claw back to take a 11-10 lead.
For the remainder of the set, both teams traded points. In the process, Sofia Barreras recorded one of her kills while Brooklyn Arbogast tallied a service ace to help NMMI to a 24-21 lead.
Up three, the Lady Colts were unable to take the set as Ruidoso ended the second set on a 5-0 run to secure the two-set advantage with a narrow 26-24 win.
Set 3
Extending the match, the Lady Colts opened the third set on a 8-4 run as Pires tallied a pair of powerful kills. Up 12-6, the Warriors were able to close the gap as they went on a run of their own to force a NMMI timeout with a 14-13 score line.
In the middle of the set, both teams traded points as neither team could pull away but the Lady Colts would separate themselves near the end. With a 19-16 lead, NMMI closed the set on a 6-3 run as Barreras smashed a well set ball over the net to secure the third set for the Lady Colts 25-20.
Set 4
In the final set, NMMI tried to battle early as no team could find any separation as the score was tied at 6 with the help of a kill by Pires. However, from that point on Ruidoso was able to create separation and take a commanding 21-13 lead. With various service errors, Ruidoso was able to take the match-clinching set, 25-17.
With the loss, Head Coach Chantale Riddle knows where the mistakes were made, “We made a ton of errors … so if you give them half of their points they’re going to win,” Riddle said. With four regular-season matches remaining there is still a vision for the postseason, “We are there and other teams know we are there … if we trust the process we will get there when we need to. If we keep working every day, those teams are going to be shocked in a week,” Riddle said.
The Lady Colts return to action on Tuesday, Oct. 29 as they host Tularosa High School at 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. in the Godfrey Athletic Center to continue district play.