Storm Favored To Win Wide Open 5A Tournament

There are, Cleveland volleyball coach Brian Ainsworth theorized, half a dozen teams capable of winning the Class 5A championship this weekend.

The Storm, naturally, are atop that list.

One of the chasers is Rio Rancho.

The Rams (14-9) are the No. 4 seed for state, which begins at 1 this afternoon at the Santa Ana Star Center with 5A pool play.

“We’ve got to serve it real aggressively, and we have to defend really well, especially against the bigger teams,” Rio Rancho coach Toby Manzanares said. “We may be the smallest team in the field.”

The Rams are coming off a four-set loss to the Storm last Saturday night in the District 1-5A tournament championship match.

Rio Rancho is 0-4 against Cleveland this year. And the Rams would rather not be in the same half of the draw with Cleveland after pool play is done.

Erika Bolling and Olivia Adams pace the hitting for Rio Rancho, with Haley Ng doing the setting.

Manzanares has put out a young team all year, and often the Rams will have three or four sophomores on the floor.

Rio Rancho is in a pool with No. 5 Sandia and No. 12 Hobbs.

Cleveland, the No. 1 seed, is pooled with No. 8 Manzano and No. 9 Oñate.

“Anybody can get hot this time of year,” Ainsworth said. “We’re gonna make sure we take care of business.”

Cleveland (19-2) is the two-time defending 5A state runner-up, but is heavily favored this week. La Cueva is probably the biggest threat to the Storm this week. Those two had a five-set thriller during the regular season.

Hitters Cassie House and Courtney Lawson supply the power for Cleveland. Setter Briana Ainsworth was the District 1-5A player of the year. And the Storm have an outstanding libero in Lindsay Bost.

Cleveland won the district title last weekend, 25-18, 16-25, 25-11, 25-21.

FORMAT: The Class 5A first round is 7 p.m. today. The four pool winners have byes until Friday’s 1:15 p.m. quarterfinals.

The semifinals are 8:15 p.m. Friday. The 5A title match is 7 p.m. Saturday, at the Star Center.