2010 5A All-State selections

Nathalie Castellanos
2010 5A Player of the Year
Al Rosen
2010 5A Coach of the Year

First Team

Left side/Right side hitters: Nathalie Castellanos, Gadsden, Mackenzie Clark, Rio Rancho, Jayla Trombley, Rio Rancho

Setters: Jordan Bruere, Cleveland; Evelyn Hernandez, Gadsden

Middle Hitters; Sarah Hattis, Cleveland, Cassie House, Cleveland

Libero: Nicole Enriquez, Gadsden

Second Team

Left side/right side hitters: Rachael Bradley, Sandia; Amber Miramontez, Gadsden; CC Rode, Eldorado

Setters: Sarah Fountain, Las Cruces; Marie Rossillon, Eldorado

Middle Hitters; Camille Boal, Sandia; Taylor Small, Eldorado

Libero: Mariah Gonzales, Cleveland

Honorable Mention:

Left side/Right side hitters; Marissa Calvillo, Cleveland; Callie Chambers, Mayfield; Kayla Dobson, Eldorado; Emily Dodson, Alamogordo; Shannon Niemeier, Carlsbad

Setters: Lexi Dotson, Las Cruces; Diamond Morrill, Carlsbad; Brandi Torr, La Cueva

Middle Hitters: Taylor Edmonson, Carlsbad; Marcella Hanriot, Mayfield; Madison Lopez, Eldordado; Erika Tovar, Onate

Liberos: Felicia Aguilar, Clovis; Rocio Ramirez, Mayfield; Lizzie Velasquez, Las Cruces

Voters: Albuquerque, Alamogordo, Carlsbad, Cleveland, Clovis, Eldorado, Gadsden, Hobbs, La Cueva, Las Cruces, Mayfield, Onate, Rio Rancho, Sandia, Volcano Vista, West Mesa

35 thoughts on “2010 5A All-State selections”

  1. evelyn hernandez and jordan bruere over marie rossillon for first team all-state setter? what a joke. somebody tell me how that is even close to realistic, please i want to hear your argument. apparently coaches are incapable of comparing setters, since it is impossible to compare those three players and not put marie rossillon on first team. the coaches of the state again show how they are incapable of making selections based on actual individual talent and impact to a team and must resort to giving the highest slots to players who played on the best teams. even then, cleveland beats eldorado in a tight fifth set and gets 3 first team all-state selections while eldorado gets 0. also notice that gadsden and cleveland have the first and second team liberos. rossillon was the engine that made eldorado run, despite a lack of consistent passing, and helped the team come within a set of the state finals; but the coaches of new mexico ignore that and just vote for the setters of the two finalists; REALLY?

  2. if you want any further proof of the inability of coaches to support any players beyond their own, just look at the voting list. cibola does not have a voting coach…and is the only quarterfinalist without an all-state player. meanwhile las cruces lost to cibola, but has 3 all-staters. confused? you shouldnt be, just check to see who the chief vote organizer was. that may have something to do with why mayfield also got 3 all-staters, while the team that beat them, clovis, only got 1. unfortunately, the influence of certain coaches matters too much and does not allow for the correct allocation of honors. i think the best way is to find some way of voting that is less dependent on the influence of coaches on one another to determine all-state slots.

  3. HAHA your statement is obviously biased based on the simple fact that your preferred team did not win state. Stop hating on the results and on the players that were selected and just move on. If the setter from el dorado is as good as you say, then thats just a shame she wasn’t selected to be an all-stater. There is no need to mock the two setters selected. Instead try being happy for them, unless of course you’re to self obsorbed.

  4. Luis, you just made my point exactly. You said, “your statement is obviously biased based on the simple fact that your preferred team did not win state.” However, my entire point was that the coaches mix team accomplishments with individual accomplishments and thus pick the wrong INDIVIDUAL players. Gadsden won the tournament great for them. Cleveland got second. Great for them too. But the awards for all-state are supposed to go to the BEST PLAYERS not the PLAYERS ON THE BEST TEAMS. I don’t know if you have watched any new mexico high school volleyball, but if you have and think that Bruere and Hernandez and are the better volleyball players, than I respect your opinion. However, my point is that the selections were seemingly based on picking players from the best teams instead of the best players. I apologize if I came across as mocking Bruere and Hernandez, that was not my intent. No doubt they deserved all-state honors (also to clarify, Rossillon was a 2nd team all-stater, not absent as you mentioned). If you look for the BEST TWO SETTERS in the state, however, Rossillon must be counted among that number. Again, I apologize if I came across as mocking any players.
    Congratulations to all the selectees on your accomplishment!

  5. Andrew, if I came across as complaining a lot, that is because I have seen this problem over and over again in selections for most New Mexico sports, not just volleyball. I think there is a bit of acceptance of the current system as “good enough” but I think it consistently gets some choices wrong. The only reason we should care is that certain colleges do look for athletic accomplishments in determining acceptance or scholarship considerations. A player that does not get recognized or receives a lower award is potentially hurt on their applications (I concede that this would not actually be the deciding factor in most all cases). Still, I think the coaches of the state (or whoever votes on the awards) should work a little harder a picking the best players instead of just their own. I complain because I think the system can get better.

  6. As a matter of fact I have seen plenty of high school volleyball games. I agree with you to some extent but these selections weren’t made based on the “best” teams. The simple fact that Sarah Fountain, setter from Las Cruces, was part of the second team says it all. Cruces got eliminated early on from the tournament and look where she ended up. It’s not all based on the accomplishments of the team, but also on the accomplishments and statistics of the player herself.

  7. While that may be true, of the 8 players on the first team of all-state, they come from only 3 teams. While there is a possibility that these 3 teams simply were blessed with the 8 best players in the state of New Mexico for 5A (position based of course), I find that to be highly unlikely. Especially since those 3 teams happened to be the two finalists and one semifinalist. Rather, I think voters defaulted to them as players on the best teams, especially in the making of 1st team selections. I would agree that 2nd team and honorable mention selects were more representative although not entirely. In fact, I would not be surprised if a team composed of 2nd team and honorable mention players could beat the 1st team.
    Finally, I will say that I think the influence of certain coaches did create some of the discrepancies, despite the possibility of being viewed as overly cyncial. It may be that Las Cruces’s considerable representation was due to the influence of their coach on the voting (see my earlier paragraph). Similarly, Cibola did not have a coach voting in the proceedings and Stephanie Wilson, who was a first-team all-metro selection for Albuquerque, did not make any team (and Cibola beat Las Cruces).

  8. Kevin –
    While the process is still somewhat of a mystery to me, I know of a few coaches across several classifications that shared your exact sentiment last year.

    Keith Leupold, who has conducted the polling for 5A as long as I’ve done the site, in my opinion doesn’t seem to have influence over the results. If he did, I don’t think he’d be doing it much longer.

    Here are the results over the past two years:

    2009: http://bit.ly/eLwEDo
    2008: http://bit.ly/hGm3SJ

    So the big question is, to keep it truly unbiased, who do you think should do this? Just remember it the NM High School Coaches Association’s poll, so it’s kind of limited…

    Finally as far as Cibola is concerned, I was contacted by a coach and there were no Cibola players on the ballot. That responsibility is solely that of the coach. For whatever reason (he forgot, or there was some specific criterion not being met), there were no players to vote for. I believe he is a first year coach, so he may have missed something.

    If I can find out more info, I’ll post it. Thanks for the good discussion on this.

  9. Criteria for selection is that the player has to make their all-district team to be in the running for All-State recognition. That is why there are no Cibola kids representing though they may be outstanding players. With that said, if a player doesn’t make the all-district team they CANT make the all-state team. While there are 22-5A high schools that compete in volleyball only 16 voted. This is a problem throughout the year with many issues including the 5A polls for NMHSCA. Keith, Toby, myself and many others coaches BEG our constituents to vote in the 5A polls as well as for our kids in the post season awards. Many of us work hard to get our kids, and others, recognized locally, regionally, and nationally while others do not think it is important.

    Fortunately for us Keith does a great job (as no other classification has their All-State selections out) getting our voting taken care of. The voting is not indicative of what parents and fans think are the best players in the state but the Coaches who train, compete, and fully understand the sport. We decide (16 of us instead of 22) who should be recognized and that is why All-State is a great indication of who the best players are and not media or other publications who may have what some people say are bias or undue influences. Coaches are well informed on the other players around the state and I know that many of us take pride in knowing, promoting, and calling/emailing other coaches about kids OTHER than our own.

    Thanks to Keith for your hard work and to RIch for hosting a site that gets a lot of exposure and notoriety for our kids in this state. No one covers Volleyball in our state if Rich doesn’t do it. Thanks my man.

  10. Good post coach.
    I think people just need to look at things differently.
    The reason that Gadsden and Sue Cleveland are number 1 and 2 in the state is because they have THE BEST PLAYERS. Of course more of these kids will be on the All State Team.
    Being the best player on a mediocre team does’nt really mean anything. If your kid is so great, THEY WOULD WIN MORE GAMES!

  11. Thanks for the info on Cibola. That makes sense, although it is certainly unfortunate for the Cibola girls who could not be recognized due to administrative problems. And certainly, the first step toward improving voting would be to ensure full participation from coaches as opposed to only 75%.
    However, I still think there is a considerable issue when it comes to evaluating the best individual players as opposed to the players on the best teams, especially at the position of setter. Looking at the data Rich supplied over the last 3 all-state selections (including this year), 6 out of the 7 first team all-state setters played on a team that made the finals of the state tournament (and all finalists had a setter on first team all-state). Certainly these girls are excellent volleyball players and deserve recognition, but I highly doubt that the actual best 2 (or 3) setters in the state happen to play on the teams that make the finals.
    In Rossillon’s case, her overall value to the team cannot be emphasized enough. She led the team in assists, was first in serve percentage (of those who served at least 20 times), was second in digs, was fourth in blocks (including 28 solo blocks), sixth in kills, and had an 8:1 pass to error ratio on service receive. And just as important, she was the UNDISPUTED floor captain of a team that lost in the fifth set of semifinals of state. Furthermore, this was done on a team without reliable passing with good, but not great hitters (no first team hitters; no recognition of passers).
    So in this case, I will have to disagree that the most worthy players were chosen for certain teams or recogniton in general.
    And indeed, thank your Rich for hosting this site. It certainly is a blessing for new mexico volleyball.

  12. Realist, while I agree, I think that idea was blown out of proportion in voting. Cleveland had 5 all-staters, the same as Eldorado, but had three first-team all-staters to Eldorado’s none. By those numbers, Cleveland should easily be able to handle Eldorado. However in state, they played five tough sets where Cleveland was able to eke out a win. And I believe that match was not a fluke, and that if Cleveland played Eldorado 10 times the total count would probably be 6-4 Cleveland. Sure, Cleveland had more high quality players, but not to justify the discrepancies in the selections of the teams.
    Also, ask yourself the question, if Eldorado would have won the 5th set 15-10 instead of Cleveland, how much would the teams have changed? And how much should they change considering that 5 points out of an entire season is the difference between being a semifinalist and a finalist?
    Teams win championships, not individuals (especially in volleyball) but the all-state awards are supposed to recognize individuals and not teams.

  13. Really, give it up! Eldorado, though really a scrappy bunch, had no one deservant of making 1st team! Superior players rise up to the task in tight games and Eldorado didn’t demonstrate that time and again throughout the season, i.e Rio Rancho match up 2-0 and lost 3-2 at home. I believe if Cleveland or Gadsden played them 10 times the Storm would win 9 out of ten times!

  14. You highly doubt that the best 2 or 3 setters in the state were on the top 2 teams? This statement makes no sense at all. Obviously they were since they ended up in the finals.
    Yes I believe that if Eldorado had beat Sue Cleveland their players would have been on first team. Don’t you think the coaches would look pretty silly loading the All State Team with players from teams that didn’t advance.
    Granted Eldorado was close to beating Sue Cleveland but if you saw the game before that Eldorado barely beat Cibola in 5.
    I think Cibola was ahead in everyone of those games. Cibola is an 11-10 team.
    I think the fact that the NMAA was trying to cram the State Tournament into 3 days, and forced these teams to be playing such a late schedule took a toll on many of the teams.

  15. Again, these recent comments go back to my original argument that the players on the best teams are picked and not the best players. Saying that the best teams had the best setters is ignoring the contibutions of the other 5 players on the court (and numerous other players who rotate in). Gadsden and Cleveland had superior passing and hitting to Eldorado, so their setters just had to take the on target pass and loft it up nice and high for one of their great hitters. Rossillon consistently got to passes that LITERALLY ZERO other setters in the state could make a play on, and put up a solid set. You say that Eldorado was scrappy. Take Rossillon out of the equation, and Eldorado is not scrappy. They are just another middle-of-the-road team. The best players are the ones who raise the level of the team up a notch, not the role players who do their part on a great team.

    And in making these claims that Rossillon was not on a good team, THEY MADE THE SEMIFINALS! They were 16-5 and only two teams advanced further. So let’s take your advice and just pick all the players from the top two teams. And then we need not call it the all-state team. We can just call it the team of the best players on the finalists. Rio Rancho put two players on first team all-state and they weren’t finalists. Eldorado lost in the exact same round as Rio Rancho. But apparently, the top 8 players in New Mexico hail from only 3 teams. Puuuhlease. That is not the all-state first team; that is the continuation of team awards which are wrongfully called “all-state.”

  16. In speaking with a few coaches last night we are going to look at making an All-Tournament team, which almost all States do, and an All-State Team to try and help separate these two post season awarded teams. Many people see the State tournament teams and they get a lot of recognition at the end of the season.

    While i may not agree completely with your evaluation of players on this coach selected team (REALLY?) i do understand why you are frustrated and i think we can do a better job of selecting an All-State team based on their individual accomplishments and an all Tournament team based on the Best players on the Best teams in the state too.

    HOWEVER… Not many coaches see all of the kids around the state unless they play the other teams down south and in the east and not many of them do. Many districts have limited travel because of budgets and unless they work to know, research, and see those kids they dont have many opportunities. There are 4-5 coaches that who take pride in knowing which kids are the best in the state and an all-tournament team would help make the state tournament not be so much of the influence as to who makes and doesnt make the all-tournament team.

    I do understand your concern and frustration as last year we had NO kids on the all-state team because we didnt make it to the semifinals. But… The best teams in the state make it as far as the best players take them. As in basketball and football the best setters take their teams as far as they can get them too… That is why many times the finalists have the best setters but not always.

    Just wanted to let all of you know that we will be looking at making that change through our coaches association and volleyball sports specific committee so we can try and get the right kids recognized but also show the great accomplishments of the kids who compete at the highest level in the state tournament. Hope this helps.

  17. This is a few coaches opinions. There are lots of great players that have not been duly recognized either. What about the great young setter from Rio Rancho (Hailey?) Those 1st team hitters from RR are where they are in part because of her. What about the all around amazing player Rachael Hendrick from Sandia who hasn’t seemed to get any deseved recognition all year? What about the all-around Cibola standout Angelique Keefner: setter/hitter/blocker? What about Stephanie WIlson from Cibola who is an outstanding right side hitter and middle blocker and who has a killer jump serve? Any coach that has faced these girls knows their talent and these players are definately worthy of all-state recognition as well. Too bad their own coaches didn’t think enough of them to even submit their names. These awards depend on the coaches doing their job and also depends on who are the coaches favorites and whose names even get submitted. And while we are talking talent….what about the amazing players from La Cueva who were noticeably missing. Was it because of the scandal? If that is the case, the only difference between them and some of the other players listed on the all-state teams is that they got caught. They paid their dues and accepted their punishment and then went on to play incredible at the STATE tournament. All-State awards should be about talent; not popularity or morality or coahes playing favorites.

  18. You people need to get a life. Yes..there were amazing players that did not get recognized. Try being happy for the players that did get honored. This stuff happens in every walk of life…..teachers, employers, coaches, and even parents have favorites! Life isn’t fair.

  19. Isn’t it amazing—the girls move on and get over it, but the adults just can’t handle it. There has to be some excuse. “It is someone’s else’s fault”.

    Okay, so here is my plan for the future to eliminate bad feelings. ‘Course it will eliminate good feelings too, but those are no longer important nor properly deserved

    1. Add another official to each match. That person’s responsibility is to monitor playing time for each player on each team. Each player must play for the time it takes to total 10 serves accumulated by both teams. No exceptions.
    2. ‘Starting line-ups’ will hense forth be referred to as “beginning lineups”. Historically, the term “starting” refered to the better players, and we can’t have that distinction because not everyone can “start”.
    2. For each season, tournament, and district each player will receive a PARTICIPATION CERTIFICATE to be proudly displayed on her bedroom wall. No more “all” anythings, we just can’t get it right and besides, everyone and no-one deserves to be elevated to another level.
    3. No longer will scores be kept. It is a waist of someone’s time and the team with the lower score (we won’t use losers anymore) and their adult associates will all feel better.

    I really hope this works. It is such a better plan. If one of my children or grandchildren did not win or get recognized as perhaps they should have, I would simply tell them to respect the winners, go out and work harder, bust their butts, get better, and good things will come their way. Thank goodness I don’t have to do that anymore, now that I have a new plan.

  20. Thanks, everyone, for the discussions. I think some positive things are coming from this, and it appears the coaches are being proactive in finding a way to make sure that kids get honored.

    While it’s impossible to remain unbiased, I think in the Cibola instance, it is wrong to blame the other 1-5A coaches. I don’t know the VV coach, but neither Coach Wallis nor Coach Manzanares would take advantage of ANY situation to further their own players at the expense of others.

    Regardless, the issue regarding specific players on the Cibola squad doesn’t belong in a public forum; those entries will be gone shortly and hopefully things can be resolved between the parent and coaches.

    Remember, the goal of the site is to give a positive outlook on the sport, and more importantly the players, regardless of awards or lack thereof. Also, the same players are reading these posts, so keep that in mind before you submit your comments.

  21. Thank you, Rich. Let’s keep it positive folks. I don’t mind people pointing out stellar players that may not have been recognized…..in fact I think it is nice to try to give them a little recognition so in case they are reading this they know they have a fan or two out there. I don’t think there are any conspiracies going on, though. At worst there were obviously some oversights. Congratulations to all the fine young ladies that were awarded an All-State honor! You deserve it! And thanks to the people in charge of getting this organized and tallied and posted! Oh, and “Granpa”…..I liked your post.

  22. I do apologize to Ben, Toby, and Dawn for making my comment the way I did. I will admit that I made my assumptions based on limited and incorrect data. I have gotten more information that does show that the 1-5A coaches did try to keep the recognition process equal and that it is an internal issue at Cibola that we have to deal with.

  23. Alright, my last comment. I really like the idea of an all-tournament team and then an all-state team. Maybe even vote for all-state before the tournament starts so that tournament success is not the main reason for all-state selections (a la many pro and college awards).
    Thanks for all who joined the discussion, especially those who disagreed with me. I thought the conversation was good, and I apologize if I stepped on anyone’s toes.
    Again congrats to all those who earned any honors in any capacity this year, and the best of luck in the rest of your volleyball careers.
    Finally, thanks again Rich for the site. It really is beneficial to New Mexico volleyball as a whole, and we all appreciate it
    Happy Holidays!

  24. I don’t think that they should to pick All State teams before the State Tournament.
    Like Coach Wallis was saying, most of these teams never see each other until State. Especially the 4A and lower divisions. These schools don’t travel to play except for the State tournament.
    If you decide before that it will definitely be a popularity contest.
    One coach will call another coach and ask who he should vote for.
    At least if a coach waits until the State tournament, he/she can personally observe the players and decide who to vote for.
    It seems like all of this drama is brought up by a couple disgruntled parentsoverestimating their childs talents.
    I say leave it alone. It has evolved this way for a reason

  25. Dear Award or Popularity Contest,

    Your comment that the only difference between the La Cueva Volleyball Girls and others that made the All-State list is that they got caught while the others did not is offensive and OUT OF LINE!! How dare you insinuate that my daughter(being a vb player) does/did drugs. Contrary to what you seem to believe, my daughter does not do drugs nor has ever tried them because she is a serious athlete who would never treat herself so poorly as to do drugs and would never treat her team with so little respect. Watch what you print online about people you know nothing about!!

  26. Too many folks here need to get a life and let go of some of this petty nonsense…life’s not fair…who’s gonna care about most all of this 12 months from now or after graduation??

  27. Ben Wallis informed me about the hullabaloo on the site, and at first I was upset about things, but I understand that people have opinions.

    So let me explain the process.

    1) I volunteered in 1996 or so to do the All-State balloting, because nobody was doing it and there simply was no All-State team. Football and basketball were done by the Associated Press, but nobody cared enough about volleyball to do anything of the sort. I thought that All-State recognition would be good for the girls who are recognized. I spend my time, I call people, I urge coaches to make sure people in their district vote, and I do the best I can. For “Really” to suggest that I would skew the vote in favor of my players reveals more about him (or her) and his/her ethics than it does about mine, so that doesn’t bother me.

    2) Cibola’s issues are Cibola’s, and that is something that is out of my jurisdiction. I merely take the All District ballots from each district and compile them, alphabetically, with each girl’s jersey # and school next to her name. We vote for 6 left side/right side players, 2 liberos, 4 setters, and 4 middles, enough to have two complete teams of 3 LS/RS, 2 middles, 2 setters, and a libero for the first and second teams. Honorable mention is received by players who received several votes during the process. We as a volleyball association in New Mexico went to the All-District lists as the prerequisite for making All-State because we had coaches who would nominate 8 or 9 players from their team to the All-State ballot, making it unmanagable and unrealistic. If a player isn’t good enough to make an All-District team, the rationale is that she shouldn’t be able to make an All-State team.

    3) Coaches can vote for their own players, something that coaches in the association have agreed on as well. That being said, I see the ballots as they come in and can say that many coaches vote for players without regard to their own team. It is obvious that “Really” is an Eldorado supporter (and perhaps a particular setter’s parent) so for him (or her) to suggest while being partisan that all others should be non-partisan is rather unrealistic.

    4) 75% of the coaches voted, and of the state tourney teams, only one team was not represented in the ballot, but that was not because of lack of effort on my part. I also urge the members of each district to get out the vote in their district, because it provides parity in the voting.

    5) Eldorado had a excellent team this year, which I had the opportunity to see first hand. I think “Really’s” comments about their lack of passing and excellent hitting is probably not an appropriate comment, because it makes Rossillon look good at the expense of the other Eldorado players, many of whom were excellent as well. There is a reason that 3 Eldorado players made second team, and two made honorable mention, more than any other team in the state besides Cleveland and Gadsden.

    6) For the record, I voted for only 1 of my players on the All-State ballot, and voted for 5 players total from my district, 6 players from the Cleveland district, 4 players from the Eldorado district, and 1 from the Clovis/Carlsbad district. I voted for the players who I felt were the outstanding players in the state at each position, without regard for whether my player(s) were going to get recognition.

    7) All-State recognition, while exciting for players, will not impact a player’s recruitability. A college coach doesn’t care about those awards, and doesn’t care about stats either. The college coach is going to watch the player, on film or preferably live, and make a judgment from that observation as to whether a particular player fits the needs of the college program. To think that Evelyn Hernandez will be recruited before Rossillon because she is first-team All-State and not second shows a lack of understanding of the recruiting process.

    8) Have I answered all the questions here? Probably not. How about going to the coaches, who do this for your athletes for pennies on the hour, and saying “Thank you”? How about telling Rob Pierce that he did a great job with all the girls under his tutelage, and letting him know you appreciate him?

    Rich, sorry to appropriate your site in an attempt to explain the process, but I think that the process has been misrepresented and maligned. It may not be perfect, but compared to what was before, which was NOTHING, I will take this process, warts and all.

  28. No need to apologize at all, I’m very glad to see your response! You’re welcome ANYTIME. We all lose perspective at times, but I think we all understand that we’re here for the kids. Thanks, coach!

  29. Rich/Coach Leuold – THX for stepping out and explaining some things to everyone. Disappointing to see adults comparing and contrasting players – especially the Eldorado setter versus the rest of the city/state. Do they really think the honor or lack of honor is going to keep their daughter from getting a full ride to Penn State or Standford? Or better yet, ride the pine as one of Jeff Nelson’s POWs??? Is it worth it??? Anywho….
    Parents should keep some of their thoughts to themselves. I guess it would never cross their mind to think about how horrible they could make young lady/student athlete feel if they read the nonsense posted here. These are 14-17 year old kids – and it’s sad to see the petty, vindictiveness here. Come on – love the sport – thank the coaches who put up with a lot for very little pay AND who take an inordinate amount of abuse and second guessing from parents, most who never played and probably would be the last one picked for a pick up game of jungle vball:-)

  30. No one every has faith on the teams from down south. Everyone only believes on the teams from up north to take State. But this year, Gadsden was able to prove everyone up north wrong, that even the underdog can come up on top and win the State Championship. Way to go Lady Panthers..We need to focus on the great accomplishment of these young ladies.

  31. to panther fan!! Don’t ever believe that the teams “up north” don’t respect and even sometimes fear the talents and drive of the players and coaches of the teams from the south!! Oh, no, if there is a fan, player, or coach who doesn’t respect the other team, especially just because they are from the southern part of New Mexico, they are mis-informed! I also don’t think that Gadsden is an underdog in volleyball – not with your talented players and your coach. And, look around at other teams and coaches in the southern part of the state – many tough competitors, many good and even great coaches!
    I agree – lets focus on the great accomplishments of all of the players – and I agree with Grampa – Let’s play ball!

    I look forward to another great volleyball season in 2011.

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