Melrose tops Logan, moves to 10-0

MELROSE - It was the Melrose High School gym in September, not Rio Rancho's Santa Ana Star Center in November.

Yet, Friday afternoon's Logan-Melrose volleyball match had a state-championship feel to it.

For good reason. The Lady Buffaloes came into last year's Class A state title match looking to defend the crown they had won a year earlier, only to have a repeat snatched away by the Lady Longhorns. Melrose is vying for another state championship this year and had taken several steps – nine of them, in fact – toward that goal, heading into Friday with a 9-0 record.

Logan too was looking state-title caliber, entering Friday at 11-1.

Yes, a state-championship feel indeed.

And though still in the final days of September, more than a month away from the big dance upstate, Melrose appears ready for another state-title run. Friday, the Lady Buffaloes swept Logan, 25-14, 25-23, 25-23.

The Lady Buffs know they're a long way from reclaiming a state crown. But a 10-0 start in that direction certainly doesn't hurt.

"They're just real hungry and competitive; they're all competitors," Melrose head coach Casey Jackson said of his team. "And a lot of them have been playing varsity since eighth grade, so they know me, they know the program, and they buy in."

"Us playing as a unit is pretty good," Melrose senior middle blocker Nataley Mondragon said. "We have a lot of good hitters, and our back row is really good. ... Yeah, we're doing pretty good so far."

"We came from that loss last year and all of us really want to win," senior outside hitter Deajha Downey said. "Even the freshmen were on that team last year, so this is a whole team that got to experience a loss, and we all have that fire in us that's driving us."

"We're a family, we really are," senior outside hitter/middle blocker Brette DeVaney said. "We all are like sisters, and we fight, and we have a good time, and we go through the worst times together. And so we really work together. Nobody can do it on their own, and that's one thing that we had to learn this season. And right now we really live that."

"They're a good team," Logan head coach Robert Young said. "They're playing hard, they're hard to beat."

They certainly were on Friday. The Lady Buffaloes staked themselves to an early lead, scoring seven straight points to push a 3-2 advantage to 10-2. That run ended as it had begun, with a DeVaney kill.

Though Logan pulled to within six points seven different times (14-8, 15-9, 16-10, 17-11, 18-12, 19-13, 20-14), Melrose won five straight points to close out the set, 25-14, with Hailey Martin's kill icing it.

The second set, however, was quite different for the Lady Buffaloes.

Melrose won the first point, but Logan then took four straight and grabbed control of the set. The Lady Longhorns built an 11-7 lead, but after a Melrose timeout, the Lady Buffs won three straight points and four out of five, closing to within 12-11.

Logan maintained the lead for a while, though, going up 16-13 before Melrose charged back to tie it at 16. Logan then won the next two points, and continued to stay ahead. Soon, the Lady Longhorns had built a 22-18 advantage, three points away from tying the match at one set apiece.

Melrose, though, rallied to forge a 22-all tie, then Logan took a 23-22 edge on a Kassi Foote kill before the Lady Buffaloes tied it again.

After a great volley, an Anjalina Sanchez kill gave Melrose a 24-23 advantage, a point away from a 2-0 set lead. Mondragon's kill on the next point finished it off, securing that two-set edge.

The Lady Buffaloes' comeback, to an extent, was a result of remembering what happened to them against Logan last November.

"I thought about how we were two points away from winning that championship, and they came back and stole it from us," Downey said. "And I believe this year we are so focused and we're zoned in. I just don't want to lose, it's my senior year. And I don't want to lose it for my other girls. I believe that when we're out there and we're down, we have that fire."

"As a team we all need to have motivation, where we play as a team, we hold the ropes together, and no matter what happens, we play for each other," Mondragon said. "And that kind of got into our mindset and we didn't want to lose that set. So we just came out even harder."

"All season so far, during practice, we've been talking about coming back from a big-point (deficit)," DeVaney said. "And that is one thing that we've been working on and working on, so we're very confident coming back from that far. We all had a little bit of low energy, so when we got that up, we could roll like we're used to."

Though Melrose led 20-12 in the third set, Logan raced back to make it interesting at 20-16. Following a timeout, the Longhorns' momentum continued with two consecutive kills from Jordan Hines to make it 20-18.

Melrose won the next two points before another Hines kill brought Logan within 22-19. Melrose won two more in a row, moving a point away from victory, but Logan then won four straight, narrowing the difference to 24-23. And the 22nd and 23rd Longhorn points came courtesy of two more Hines kills.

But Logan then served the ball out, and Melrose's sweep was complete.

"We played exceptionally well, and showed a lot of fight in that second set," Jackson said. "We just battled, and it's going to be like that every time. ... It's a big win, but we're definitely not going to get complacent. ... I feel like we grew a lot today, we made a lot less errors than normal. So I'm hoping we'll take this game and work even harder to try and get better."

"It's a pretty good win so far," Mondragon said. "We can't get too excited. We still have a lot of work to do, and there's still a lot of season left."