Week 7: Time To Rethink What We Thought
Joshua J. Grine of NMPreps.com
Well, it's one of those things when you thought you knew the answers for the test on Friday but a pop quiz was given on Tuesday.
The first week of district play not only lived up to the hype of district play but it shakes up the rankings across each classification. Several Top-10 teams (NMPreps.com Top-25 Team Rankings) lost, the number one team in 5A (NMPreps.com Top-12 Classification Rankings) lost and two teams stand unbeaten, big school division (6A-4A).
There was a time a few weeks back, when we were certain we had favorites to either win it all or at the very least who would play in the semi-final games for each class. Maybe, the race is a bit closer than expected.
THE THREE BIG SHOCKERS
Note: Rankings discussed are week-7 rankings. New Rankings for Week 8 will be released later this evening.
Warm-It-Up: No. 11 (6A) Las Cruces upsets No. 3 (6A) Mayfield. It's hard to read to much into this story because rivalry games are a different bread. However, this big win by the Lady Bulldawgs will only help after their recent dip in the rankings. Junior
Celeste Cox, week one player of the week, led the way for the Lady Bulldawgs with 11-kills and 5-blocks.
A Bit Hotter: No. 2 (5A) St. Pius X over No. 2 (6A) Cibola. The Lady Sartans have only dropped a pair of games this season and sit at (9-2) on the season. Juliana Zamora (2017) has 75-kills on the season for the Sartans, Emily Buford (2016) has 24-blocks and Kayla Griego (2017) with 47-digs.
H-O-T, HOT: No. 9 (5A) Los Lunas takes out No. 1 (5A) Centennial. The Los Lunas Lady Tigers did what we would have considered the unthinkable taking out the top team in 5A, some would have argued the entire state, in the Centennial Lady Hawks. The Lady Tigers were led by
Week Seven Player of the Week Nominee Jordan Holland who had 14-kills and 6-blocks in the win.
TIME TO RETHINK: TOP FOUR SEEDS
1-Seeds in 6A: La Cueva, Onate, Volcano Vista, Cibola: Okay, of the four teams list one team is here for the first time and could be one to stay. Guess who? Yes, you probably noticed that Onate is one of the four now after taking out Las Cruces and moving to 7-5 on the season. Cibola after going 0-2 last week? Well, unlike our weekly progression rankings, seeds should look at the totally body of work and our next two teams would be Eldorado and maybe Sandia. Both don't have the resume. For now Cibola is safe.
Last Week in 6A we had: La Cueva, Cibola, Mayfield and Eldorado.
1-Seeds in 5A: St. Pius X, Centennial, Los Lunas, Roswell: A bit of a reaction jumping Los Lunas back into the top four mix after being ranked 9th last week, Grine? Yes, because like discussed I think Los Lunas was maybe a bit of a "bad rank" on our part. They were too good to be ninth and twenty second in the state. Centennial, with the loss is still a top four seed, Roswel is still doing work at 11-2 and St. Pius X is storming with a big win over Cibola.
Last Week in 5A we had: Centennial, St. Pius X, Roswell and Albuquerque Academy.
1-Seeds in 4A: Sandia Prep, Silver, West Las Vegas, Wingate. Okay, before you immediately hit the reply button with Wingate is not a top four seed or "they haven't played anyone" or they got beat easily by St. Mike's. Yes, but just say they run the table and enter the conversation of top four seeds with 1-loss on the season. For now, for argument sake, let's throw them at No. 4 on the seeds.
Last Week in 4A we had: We Didn't, we'll show more love to 4A now that we are getting information ready.
THE SPRINT: ONE LINER
Team you should know by now: Artesia beat Carlsbad 3-0 on Tuesday, maybe a dark horse.
Team That Deserves More Attention: West Las Vegas ran over Hatch Valley on Saturday 3-0 and as mentioned above could be a top four seed.
Team That Could be Hitting It's Stride: Ruidoso beat Portales (3-0) to shake off maybe a disappointing start to their defending the 4A title season.
Feeling Good After Week 7: Los Lunas not only beat the top team in Centennial but beat Santa Teresa (3-0) another top team in 5A volleyball this season.
Maybe more to this story and a weather alert: The Storm of Cleveland beat Santa Fe 3-0 on Friday in what could be the dark horse of 6A state tournament.
All We Do Is Win: Sandia Prep beat Ruidoso on Friday, 3-0 (Yes, we mentioned a stride above but still). The Lady Sundevils might be the unstoppable team of the year outside of La Cueva.
WEEK 7 NMPREPS.COM TOP PERFORMERS
19 Prime Time Players - Thursday/Friday Night | VOTE HERE
Lyric Ellison (2016/Volcano Vista) - 18 kills, 11 Digs in win over Rio Rancho.
Lauren Wilmert (2016/Volcano Vista) - 9 kills, 8 blocks in win over Rio Rancho.
Jaelynn Guajardo (2017/Volcano Vista) 15 Digs in win over Rio Rancho.
Jordan Breding (2016/Volcano Vista) - 15 Digs in win over Rio Rancho.
Alina Vanecek (2016/Albuquerque Academy) - 12 kills in match vs. Los Alamos.
Libby Fidel (2016/Abq Academy) - 15-digs in match vs. Los Alamos.
Sarah Skillman (2018/Abq Academy) - 25 assists in match vs. Los Alamos.
Jenna Butcher (2016/Artesia) - 14 kills in win over Clovis.
Kayla Ledezma (2016/Artesia) - 32 Digs in win over Clovis.
Justena Galindo (2016/Artesia) - 35 assists in win over Clovis.
Lexi Cole (2018/Clovis) - 8 Kills, 4 blocks in match vs Artesia.
Miajavon Coleman (2018/Clovis) - 8 kills in match vs. Artesia.
Skyler Sambrano (2016/Clovis) - 13 assists in match vs. Artesia
Abby Stomp (2016/La Cueva): 38 Assists; 11 Blocks; 5 Digs; 5 Kills
Annabelle Kubinski (2018/La Cueva): 12 Kills; 4 Blocks
Celeste Carmignani (2017/La Cueva): 8 Kills; 6 Blocks; 3 Aces
Salome Romp (2020/Santa Fe): 7 kills, 7 blocks in game vs. Cleveland.
Shania Borrego (2016/Santa Fe): 11 assists, 13 digs , 2 blocks vs. Cleveland.
Kabah Bitsoi (2016/Tohatchi): 5 kills in win over Crownpoint.
26 Prime Time Players - Tuesday/Wednesday Night | VOTE HERE
Jordan Holland (2016/Los Lunas): 14-kills, 6-blocks in win over Centennial.
Kelsey Bell (2016/Los Lunas) 36-assists, 9-digs in win over Centennial.
Hayley Torres (2018/Los Lunas) 18-digs in win over Centennial.
Abby Stomp (2016/La Cueva): 47 Assists; 17 Blocks; 14 Digs; 4 Kills
Annabelle Kubinski (2018/La Cueva): 16 Kills; 8 Blocks
Celeste Carmignani (2017/La Cueva): 10 Kills; 14 Blocks; 3 Aces
Miquel Martinez (2019/St. Mike's): 37-assists in game vs. St. Pius X
Lainie Serna (2016/St. Michaels): 20-digs in game vs. SPX.
Jaedyn Fuqua (2018/Sandia): 15-kills in win over Manzano.
Linnea Romero (2017/Sandia): 4-Aces, 8-digs in win over Manzano.
Raelynn Edge (2016/Sandia): 19-assists in win over Manzano.
Lyric Ellison (2016/Volcano Vista): 20-kills in win over Cibola.
Stacy Johnson (2017/Volcano Vista): 7-blocks, 7-kills in win over Cibola.
Lauren Wilmert (2016/Volcano Vista): 5-blocks, 5-kills in win over Cibola.
Jordan Breding (2016/Volcano Vista): 16-digs in win over Cibola.
Hallie Simnoes (2017/Volcano Vista): 14-digs in win over Cibola.
Brigette Lowe (2016/Eldorado): 21-kills in game verse La Cueva.
Hannah Warren (2016/Eldorado): 20-digs in game vs. La Cueva.
Gracie Puentes (2018/Artesia): 10-kills in win over Carlsbad.
Jenna Butcher (2016/Artesia): 10-kills in win over Carlsbad.
Kacey Thurman (2018/Artesia): 5-aces in win over Carlsbad.
Justena Galindo (2016/Artesia): 35-assists in win over Carlsbad.
Elena Gonzales (2017/Santa Fe): 11-kills, 7-blocks in win over Rio Rancho.
Destiny Chavez (2016/Santa Fe): 30 digs in win over Rio Rancho.
Shania Borrego (2016/Santa FE): 17-assists in win over Rio Rancho.
Andrea Howard (La Cueva): Great outside hitting and defending.
Missing Your Player? Send in stats to Grine at (505) 414-4313 or
grinejosh@yahoo.com.