Same teams? Check.
Same venue? Check.
Same scenario? Check.
In other words, it wasn’t looking very good for Monahans High School’s volleyball team against Canyon in the championship match of the Region I-3A Volleyball Tournament.
But after dropping the first two games, the Lady Loboes reversed their fortune in the biggest way possible by rallying for a 24-26, 17-25, 25-16, 25-19, 15-6 victory.
Monahans (35-10) came back from the brink to earn its fifth trip in six seasons to the UIL Class 3A State Championships in San Marcos. The lone blemish in that run came last year when Canyon (29-12) routed Monahans in the regional final.
“After we lost last year, us seniors especially made a goal and promised ourselves that we were going to do whatever it took to get back to San Marcos,” Monahans senior setter Kaitlin Mitchell said. “We knew Canyon was going to be in our way. We just all dug deep and that helped so much, playing from the heart.”
The Lady Eagles, who lost in last year’s Class 3A state final, staved off a game point in the opening game and then went on a 13-1 run while winning Game 2 that made a repeat of last year’s result seem very likely.
It didn’t get much better for Monahans when Canyon, behind the attacking of senior Dana Stephenson, went ahead 5-1 in Game 3.
But the Lady Loboes hung around and got the spark they needed when senior defensive specialist Bertha Felan nearly ran over her team’s bench while tracking down a dig, which Bailey Marcum turned into a kill. The dig kept alive a run that eventually reached six points as the Lady Loboes built an 18-12 edge, which was finished off with two Jordan Latham kills.
Canyon would have pulled within 14-13 if Felan hadn’t tracked the attack down and the game’s momentum still was on Canyon’s side. But Monahans stole it with the six-point run and found new life in the match.
“That right there showed we can do this,” Monahans head coach Patty Dominguez said. “It was a big save.”
The Lady Loboes turned up their overall defensive effort for the remainder of the match and got smart, dominating attacking from Marcum and Latham for the rest of the match and timely blocking from a number of players.
Marcum was named the tournament’s MVP and had a match-high 22 kills, including five in the fourth game as Monahans rallied from a 13-8 deficit. Latham also had three kills as the Lady Loboes closed Game 4 on a 17-6 run, with Heather Schulz and Kati Holly also adding a key block during that run.
The Lady Loboes then rolled in Game 5 as Marcum, Latham, Kristi Holly and Schulz all had kills and Kristi Wilson had an ace. Schulz and Kati Holly also combined on a block during Game 5 and Marcum had a key solo block of Stephenson.
“We wanted a sweep, but a win is a win,” Latham said. “When we were down, we just felt like we had to come together and get it together and play better as a team.”
In addition to her attacking, Marcum had 17 digs, seven aces and four blocks. Schulz (six kills, 4.5 blocks, 19 digs) and Latham (17 kills, two blocks, 15 digs, two aces), who also were named to the all-tournament team, had big statistical matches along with Mitchell, who dished out 38 assists.
Dominguez said the team’s improved defense was a key in turning the match, which included both the back-row players picking up balls and players at the net slowing down Canyon’s attack by getting touches on the block.
It all paid off for the Lady Loboes, who came up with a thrilling way to get back to the state tournament.
“This is almost unheard of in the regional final,” Dominguez said. “We just knew we needed to stay together to be able to get through this. They were going to put some balls on the floor and we knew that. We talked about that it was the team that was going to make the adjustments that was going to get through.”
The Lady Loboes got through all right – all the way back to state.