Progress made after close loss

WAELDER — This isn’t the same Waelder volleyball team that’s stepped on the court the past few years. Head coach Martha Zuniga has her Lady Cats team headed toward the right direction. Although they took a four-set loss to Ganado on Tuesday (28-26, 24-26, 25-20, 25-16), Waelder is showing progress, something they haven’t been able to say in a long time.

“The team has come a long way,” Zuniga said. “We’re not at the level most teams think we were at last year. We get a lot of compliments from other schools like ‘that’s not the same team we’re used to.’ They compliment me with ‘you’re doing a great job with the girls’ so they’re being noticed and that’s what we’re shooting for, for teams to know that we’re working, we’re going to get there. They’ve just been working every day.”

Tuesday they showed just that.

Down 18-13, Waelder took advantage of a Ganado mistake and rolled through on a 5-0 run with a kill rom Brejhai Montgomery and three straight aces from Honesty Fields.

Ganado would then go up 24-22 before Waelder rolled through three more points with Fields getting a kill, a block and then an ace from Katie Benitez to grab game point. Both teams traded points until Up 26-25, Waelder gave up three straight to Ganado to lose the first set.

In the second set, the Lady Cats fell to another hole, this time down 20-10.

Zuniga insisted that her team focuses “on believing in ourselves no matter what the score is.”

Waelder would end the set on a 16-4 run to win it 26-24. Even as impressive, the Lady Wildcats were down 24-20 and had to make sure their serves were perfect due to Ganado having game point.

Montgomery came through and scored on three aces during the 6-0 run to end the set.

“Our word for the year is ‘believe’,” Zuniga explained. “[We have] to believe in ourselves, to believe that we can win and believe that we’re able to meet our goals.”

Waelder continued their dominance going up 16-10 in the third set, but Ganado began taking advantage of issues the Lady Cats had on the floor and the Indians would win the set 25-20. In the fourth set, Ganado closed it out, as Waelder had some missed serves and misplaced places.

“We didn’t attack the ball like we normally do,” Zuniga said. “We fell off the passing there at the end. It wasn’t where we needed to be.”

Nonetheless, the Waelder head coach gave props to her team for their efforts, especially early on in the game.

“Serving wise, Bre did a good job for us,” she said. “Ashlyn [Noyola] had some good, key serves. Laisha [Rangel] had some kills and Honesty being up there to block…[Ganado] have two tall girls and just being able to be up there and blocking them and getting a hand on it was key for us.”

Zuniga also pointed out that her libero, Ke’Shaya Moore played well picking up digs.

“To be honest, it was a team effort to come back and win that those games,” Zuniga said, “and that’s what it took.”

Now, Waelder will need to focus on finishing out matches and being more aggressive with their attacks, but Zuniga likes where her team is headed.

“We haven’t finished yet,” she said. “By the time it comes to playoffs, some people will have some things to say and I expect big things out of them still and come that time, they will be ready. [They’ll] be at a level that most people won’t be expecting.”

Waelder is at home tonight as they take on Prairie Lea at 4 p.m.