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Las Cruces volleyball, No. 1 and still perfect
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RIO RANCHO – They’ve lined up, one after another this month, to shoot their shot.
Cleveland first. The metro champions went down in four sets.
Los Lunas, one of Class 5A’s best groups, stepped in but was swept.
The defending 4A state champion, St. Pius, had its go on Saturday morning. Lost in three sets.
La Cueva was next, on Saturday afternoon.
But as with the other challengers, the top-ranked Las Cruces Bulldawgs were up to the task.
Las Cruces (10-0), last year’s 5A state champ, remained perfect on this 2024 prep volleyball season, defeating No. 3-ranked La Cueva in four sets in the championship match of the Rio Rancho VolleyBash event at Cleveland High.
The scores were 25-22, 18-25, 25-21, 25-23.
“It was a fun match. It was a fun match to watch,” longtime Las Cruces coach Keith Leupold said.
Nearly all of Class 5A’s top 10 were entered in this event, plus 4A’s No. 1 St. Pius, so Las Cruces got an education as to the teams that could threaten its bid to repeat in November.
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After two rounds of pool play Friday, the Final Four of the championship bracket were Las Cruces, St. Pius, La Cueva and Los Lunas.
The Bears defeated Los Lunas earlier in the day Saturday, joining Las Cruces in the final.
La Cueva dropped the first set, but raced out to a fast start in set No. 2, eventually creating a best-of-three sets scenario.
“When we went into the huddle, we said, just calm down, it’s fine, we just need to play an extra set,” said Las Cruces’ fearsome 6-foot-1, junior outside hitter, Addison Massey.
Only two teams, El Paso Franklin and Cleveland, had forced Las Cruces to a fourth set coming into the VolleyBash.
It was a late 6-0 burst in that third set Saturday, with two kills and a tip by Massey, that spurred the Bulldawgs to a 2-1 lead in sets.
In the deciding set, sophomore Ava Price delivered a kill, then an ace, followed by a Massey kill that gave Las Cruces enough separation to survive a mini-run at the end by La Cueva, which was playing without head coach Steve Archibeque, who had a personal commitment.
The Bears didn’t fare any better than 5A’s second-ranked Cleveland or fourth-ranked Los Lunas (Las Cruces beat both at its own tournament two weeks ago), or the best in 4A, St. Pius. Las Cruces will play two more ranked teams from the metro area, Albuquerque High and Rio Rancho, next week.
“We’re doing pretty good,” Price said. “I think we have a really good chance of winning state again.”
Cleveland, which beat La Cueva in the metro final, did not make the championship bracket of the VolleyBash, having finished third in its power pool.
“We’re competitive. We’re where we want to be,” Leupold said. “We think we have a team that can compete for a state championship and this weekend we came out and showed that.”
Las Cruces Bulldawgs win the Rio Rancho VolleyBash
