Canyon Leave Gap in Monahans' Season
   By Chris Gove, Staff Writer ~~ Odessa American, November 12, 2006

LUBBOCK A lot of people didn’t see this coming, but that’s OK.

The Monahans High School volleyball team got blindsided, as well.

The Lady Loboes had their bid for a fifth consecutive trip to state abruptly halted Saturday with a 25-14, 25-16, 25-20 loss to Canyon in the championship match of the Region I-3A Tournament.

Canyon fired on all cylinders for just about every point of the match at Lubbock Christian University’s Rip Griffin Center to add its name to the list of Panhandle teams that qualified for the UIL State Volleyball Championships from Thursday through Nov. 18 in San Marcos.

The Lady Eagles will join neighboring Amarillo High (5A), Dumas (4A) and Bushland (2A) from the Amarillo metro area at the state tournament.

“If they play like that, they’re going to win state,” Monahans head coach Patty Dominguez said. “They looked good. They looked really good.  If you’re going to play in a regional championship, you have to go out and get it, and that’s what they did.”

Monahans (41-4) has been wearing a bulls-eye for several years now after playing in the last three Class 3A state championship matches and making the trip to San Marcos in four consecutive seasons.

Canyon had been on the short end of playoff matches the last two seasons — including a lopsided loss in the regional quarterfinals last year in the same building — and also lost to the Lady Loboes earlier this season in the championship match of the Seminole Tournament.

But the Lady Eagles grabbed the momentum in the opening game of the match and rarely let it go, though Monahans did struggle out to three one-point leads late in Game 3 and had a chance to extend the match.

“Canyon did a great job,” Monahans senior middle blocker Catherine Cutbirth said.  “Our effort was there and we wanted to win, but it just wasn’t there.  It’s tough to be the one not to make it (to state).  We played our best.  It could’ve been better, but we did try hard.”

Cutbirth and fellow seniors Bethany Willmon and Dina Ortiz and junior Bailey Marcum had started on state-qualifying teams each of the last two seasons for the Lady Loboes and were trying to get back.

But Canyon took control with consecutive service runs of six, four and eight points in Game 1, led all the way in Game 2 and never fell behind by more than one point in Game 3.

Canyon’s Noni Valdez was named the Region I-3A Tournament’s MVP after finishing with 11 kills. Dana Stephenson also had 11 kills, while Cherilyn McMenamy had six kills and five aces.

Setters Tia Schmidt (16 assists) and Lauren Vieth (15 assists) kept the offense running smoothly thanks to rock-solid passing as Canyon allowed Monahans to score just two points on serve in Game 2.

“I thought (going in) we were the better team defensively,” Dominguez said. “A lot of times I thought they just outhustled us and went after some balls and took care of the little things — the coverage on the block, the hustle, those kinds of things.

“In the first two games, we made all the errors, and that’s something that’s been plaguing us.  You can’t do that and get to the state tournament.”

Monahans particularly struggled on serve receive with Canyon’s aggressive serving and quick attacks.  To its credit, however, the Lady Eagles had 15 kills, four team blocks and three aces in Game 3 — meaning only three points were scored on errors by the Lady Loboes.

Monahans had six kills and two blocks from Cutbirth, four kills and three blocks from Marcum and four kills from Jordan Latham.  Junior setter Kaitlin Mitchell had 11 assists.

“Sometimes when you win for a long time, you take it for granted,” Dominguez said.  “I just think we’ve gotten used to thinking we can come back from behind, and you can’t do that against a team like this.  You’ve got to raise your intensity level above everybody else and play head and shoulders above teams so when you get to this kind of level, you’re already there.”

The Lady Loboes learned that lesson in the toughest possible way.

Canyon def. Monahans
25-14, 25-16, 25-20

REGION I-3A CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH

    Saturday, At Lubbock Christian’s Rip Griffin Center

Kills — Monahans: Catherine Cutbirth 6, Jordan Latham 4, Bailey Marcum 4, Heather Schulz 2, Bethany Willmon 2. Canyon: Noni Valdez 11, Dana Stephenson 11, Cherilyn McMenamy 6, Kelsey Kantor 1, Katie Grimes 1, Whitney Grimes 1.
 

Assists — Monahans: Kaitlin Mitchell 11. Canyon: Tia Schmidt 16, Lauren Vieth 15.
 

Blocks — Whitney Grimes 1, Cherilyn McMenamy 1, Shaela Calhoun .5, Noni Valdez .5.
 

Aces — Monahans: Bailey Marcum 1. Canyon: Cherilyn McMenamy 5, Tia Schmidt 2, Dana Stephenson 1.
 

Service Points — Monahans: Bethany Willmon 5, Heather Schulz 3, Kaitlin Mitchell 2, Jordan Latham 2, Catherine Cutbirth 1. Canyon: Cherilyn McMenamy 16, Tia Schmidt 8, Lauren Vieth 4, Katie Grimes 3, Dana Stephenson 1, Noni Valdez 1.

———

REGION I-3A ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Noni Valdez, senior, Canyon (MVP); Catherine Cutbirth, senior, Monahans; Dana Stephenson, sophomore, Canyon; Bailey Marcum, junior, Monahans; Cherilyn McMenamy, senior, Canyon; Adriana Armendariz, senior, Pecos; Jordon Phyffer, senior, Gainesville.