The Socorro Lady Warriors celebrate defeating the Estancia Lady Bears 3–0 at home on Thursday. Socorro won the first set 25–17 and the second and third sets 25–16.
Caitie Ihrig | El Defensor Chieftain photos

 

The Socorro Lady Warriors (3–1) defeated the Estancia Lady Bears (1–1) at home on Thursday 3–0, holding Estancia to 17 or fewer points in all three sets.

Socorro won the first set 25–17 and the second and third sets 25–16.

“It was great,” Lady Warrior head coach JB Mauldin said. “I know Estancia is a little bit of a small school, but they are usually a good team. Any team that we play, we have to be our best. I was glad that we came back and kept our level up for all three sets. That is really what we strive to do.

The Lady Warriors entered the game coming off of their only loss of the season so far as Robertson defeated Socorro 3–1 on Aug. 24. Maudlin said the Lady Warriors struggled with their serves and passes throughout the whole game.

Against Estancia, Mauldin said the Lady Warriors progressed in terms of passing and serving.

“I was happy that in this game we started passing like we are supposed to pass and we got our serves there and we even had some really good aggressive serves,” he said. “It kept them off balance. I’m pretty happy with that and we just have to keep working and keep trying to get better and keep trying to get used to everybody and keep trying to get into that rhythm that we need to be in.”

While progression was made, Socorro struggled in the middle of each set and let Estancia make multiple runs.

“We don’t want to give up free points and we want to force them to earn their points instead of us giving up those points,” Mauldin said. “That is the main thing. We had some rotation things there. We had some points on us there and we will definitely get those fixed.”

Estancia scored first in the first set due to a Socorro mistake and then the score tied at one, four and five. The Lady Warriors began to pull away with the lead with hits from seniors Marissa Herrera and Jazlynn Armijo and two mistakes from the Lady Bears to make it a 9-5 set. Mistakes from both teams put Estancia within two, 10-8.

Socorro senior Jazlynn Armijo hits the ball during the third set of the Lady Warriors 3–0 win over Estancia on Thursday.

The Lady Warriors and Lady Bears added two and one points to the board, respectively, before eight Estancia and two Socorro mistakes made it an 18-13 set. Socorro continued to increase their lead via hits from junior Analyz Alderete and senior Taelene Fowler, but a few mistakes allowed Estancia to add points to the board.\

With Socorro ahead 22-15, Estancia scored two points and then a hit from Fowler and a block from Armijo and junior Marissa Jacquez made it a 24-16 set. To close out the first set, each team scored a point off a mistake making the final score 25-17.

The first five points of the second set were scored off of mistakes and with a 3-2 Socorro lead, a spike from Alderete gave the momentum back to the Lady Warriors.

Socorro pulled away with an 11-3 lead, scoring all of their points off of Estancia’s mistakes. Momentum began to change and multiple Lady Warrior mistakes put the Lady Bears within four, 16-12.

With a 19-13 score, hits from senior Alex Peralta, Alderete and Fowler put Socorro ahead 21-14. After mistakes from both teams, the set ended via a hit from Armijo and another Estancia mistake to make the final score 25-16.

With the score tied at one to start the third set, three Estancia mistakes gave Socorro an early 4-1 lead. Mistakes from both teams and a spike from both Alderete and senior Andri Peralta increased Socorro’s lead by six, 8-2.

After another Lady Bear mistake, blocks from Alderete and Alex Peralta put the Lady Warriors ahead 11-3.

Socorro continued to inch away with the lead as mistakes from both teams dominated the set. Only a combined three points were scored not from mistakes as one of the points came via a hit from Alderete.

The Lady Bears were able to get within four points of the Lady Warriors lead, 19-15, but six Estancia mistakes and one Socorro mistake closed out the third set at 25-16.

Mauldin said Fowler made a big impact throughout the whole game.

“She is one of our setters and she is a leader out there on the court,” he said. “She really came up big at the front of the net and controlling the ball and getting the sets up to her teammates.”

The Lady Warriors went on to RESULT OF GAME against Cottonwood Classical Prep.

Socorro will play in the Magdalena Invite on Sept. 10 and 11 and then host Deming at 4 p.m. on Sept. 14.

Caitie Ihrig