A history-making night at Albuquerque Academy

Varsity high school volleyball is predominantly a night sport. But it’s never looked like this. Not in New Mexico, anyway.

Not until Tuesday night.

The state’s inaugural prep outdoor night match was, by and large, a resounding success, as Albuquerque Academy and La Cueva became the first two schools in the state to compete in a match under the stars.

La Cueva’s sweep (25-21, 25-19, 25-7), in front of a large and energetic (and largely student-led) crowd, was hardly the story Tuesday as New Mexico joined roughly a dozen other states around the country to leave the comfort of a gymnasium for the great outdoors.

“It was so fun,” La Cueva freshman setter Charlie Ferguson said. “The whole team was so excited about it.”

The Academy’s Richard A. Harper Memorial Stadium, which already hosts football, soccer, track and field and cross country, added volleyball on this night.

“It was crazy,” Chargers sophomore Rowan Jaime said. But being part of that short list of states to hold an outdoor match was well worth it. “That’s really cool to me.”

A temporary court was hauled in from Colorado, and laid out inside the Harper stadium, on the far east side, on top of the grass, roughly where visiting football teams stand. Some temporary bleachers were added to supplement the modest number of existing bleacher seating on that side of the stadium.

Academy coach Michael Smith said preparations for the match began at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, and it took four hours, he said, to lay out the court.

The benches used for the football team were moved from the west side to the east side to accommodate the teams. A scoring table with a tiny makeshift scoreboard was set up, and an Academy athletic department official signaled to the press box scoreboard operator (who was far from the action) who won a point to display on the main scoreboard. She held up a red flag when the Chargers scored a point, a white flag when the Bears scored.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” Smith said. He smiled and added, “It’s been a lot of work.”

The original plan was to put the court down on another grass field north of the Harper stadium, but ultimately it was determined that their first choice was not going to be at level as everyone hoped.

“The girls wanted to play in the stadium,” Smith said.

Weather was only a moderate issue. The temperature was quite comfortable, although there was an occasional breeze that sometimes disrupted timing for the setters and hitters.

“We definitely had to focus more on our setting because of the wind,” La Cueva sophomore hitter Carmen Jones said. “As hitters, we had to be ready for different sets and stuff. Other than that, it was pretty much the same.”

The temporary lights, which weren’t all that high, also created a couple of minor disturbances.

“The lights, they’ll throw you off for sure,” Ferguson said. “For setting, the dark of the sky is so hard. Especially on those high balls.”

Most everyone expects other schools in the state will follow suit at some point in the future with an outdoor match.

But these girls get to forever say, we were there first.

“I told the girls, ‘You’re trailblazers,’ “ Smith said. “There’s some girl in the stands who’s gonna play volleyball because of what she got to see tonight. … These experiences are what this is about.”

La Cueva’s already had a memorable season, and the season is only a month old. They took a season-opening trip to Florida and had a good showing, and recently added the metro title.

“It was amazing,” Jones said. “It was a little nerve-wracking. But I’m glad we got to have this experience.”

The lights, plus the softness of the court, and that occasional (but never truly intrusive) breeze all played minor roles in the match. When players who were serving went to bounce the ball, for example, they really had to slam it hard onto the court, because it looked like the volleyball itself didn’t have enough air and barely bounced.

“One thing we were worried about is the footing,” La Cueva coach Steve Archibeque said. “It was a little squishy, but we rolled it all day long to make it a little flatter.”

The teams also did something that nobody does anymore, which is switch ends after each set, so that neither team would have an advantage regarding the weather/breeze.

“The girls had a blast,” Archibeque said. “I think the girls had tons of fun tonight.”

Next for La Cueva, Class 5A’s second-ranked team, is the Rio Rancho VolleyBash this weekend, a tournament that will also feature the other top-ranked teams in 5A, Cleveland and two-time defending state champion Las Cruces.

But the Bears hope this won’t be their only outdoor match.

“This is so cool,” a beaming Ferguson said. “I definitely want to do it again.”