Lady Redskins number one in League

by Melissa Ray
LA VETA — The Lady Redskins finished out their regular season to become league champs with wins against the Centennial Rams on Friday afternoon and the Creede Miners on Saturday.
Friday’s battle against the Rams in Ram territory proved to be quite a nail biter. Sofia Schneider came out serving like a pro with eight aces total for the entire 4-set match. Early on, Ashton Rinker brought out her battle ax and continued to batter the Rams with hard spiking. Hannah Everett and Rebecca Uebler followed her example while Brenna Ray employed sneak tactics at the net. Centennial was not deterred much and continued to ram their way into Redskin territory. The final score of the first game was 25-22 La Veta.
In the second game, the Redskins and Rams came together again to fight it out. The Rams wanted the top of this hill. Schneider’s serving continued to be impressive, adding five aces to her count. Both teams were playing scrappy, treating the fans to some very exciting volleying. The Redskins pummeled the Rams with hard spikes and sneaky shots at the net. Centennial continued to dig in, but La Veta finally pulled to the top, 31-29.
The Redskins came out tough at the beginning of the third game. Ray made her presence known on the court with two saves and a straight shot across the net to the heart of the Rams. Schneider and Rena Trujillo found soft spots too. The lady warriors seemed to be unstoppable and then … the Redskins began struggling to find their targets. Both teams were fighting hard, but this battle ended in favor of the Rams, 27-25.
The fourth game was a bloody battle with the teams trading point for point. The playing was sloppy but intriguing. The Rams are used to pushing hard and continued to come back time after time. Rinker proved she still had arrows left in her quiver and had many straight shots from the net. The game came to an exciting conclusion in favor of the Redskins, 27-25.
“While it is a win,” said Coach Menegatti, “it is not playing to our potential and yes, we are happy with a win, but no, we are not happy with the level of play. We are capable of much more. We’ve played much better. We are at state tournament time. It’s District time. It’s regional time and it’s time to peak. … What it boils down to is girls on the court gotta dig in and be a Redskin.”
On Saturday, the Redskins sent the Miners home quickly for the second time this season winning in three sets: 25-8, 25-4, and 25-9.
Coach Menegatti commented, “Thank you very much for my team showing up again today, because that was not my team yesterday. They did a really good job, everyone showed leadership and I was very pleased with today’s level of play.”
The Lady Redskins ended their season as league champs with a record of 10-0-0. These Lady Warriors racked up 486 kills, 104 of those belonging to Schneider, followed closely by Rinker with 97. Serving up aces, the team had 289: Schneider dominated that number with 89, followed by Ray who had 63. The team had 77 blocks: Everett dominated with 35 and Ray stepped up with 23. The girls had 997 digs: Rinker with 188 digs and Trujillo with 173. There were 84 assists: Brandaise Martinez with 40 and Trujillo with 38. On service receiving success, the Redskins had an impressive 761: Schneider topped out at 143 and Rinker one step behind her at 142.
As of press time, Sofia Schneider was ranked #1 sophomore outside hitter in the State in aces and Brenna Ray was ranked #1 junior Middle Hitter in the same category.
The Redskins head back over to San Luis for district tournament on Friday and Saturday. Their first game will begin at 10 am against the Creede Miners.