Congrats to Cristal Quiñones for signing her national letter of intent to play with New Mexico Military Institute. Quiñones was part of the talented Panther front line that helped bring home two state championships, in 2010 and 2011. Since starting at NMMI in 2006, head coach Shelby Forchtner has actively recruited in the New Mexico … Read more
The 2nd Annual RRHS/CHS VOLLEYBASH will be held at Rio Rancho High School on September 23-24, 2011. A field of top NM 5A/4A/3A volleyball teams will begin pool play at 10 A.M. at RRHS on Friday, September 23rd. The Gold and Silver brackets will be held at Rio Rancho High School (Silver) & Cleveland High School … Read more
With their Gatorade Player of the Year and All American sitting in the crowd and another hitter on the bench, the Panthers managed to best the Bulldogs in five sets, with a gutsy comeback, 19-25, 22-25, 29-27, 25-22, 17-15. The championship match, pitting 2010 5A state champs against the 4A state champs, saw a tour-de-force … Read more
Congrats to Gadsden for pulling off the big win over Cleveland on Saturday night, 23-25, 25-21, 25-15, 25-19, in a hard fought battle in front of a great crowd. Al Rosen, Gadsden’s head coach, went to his best weapon, Nathalie Castellanos, early and often. Although it took Gadsden a set to get warmed up, they … Read more
Will the real #2 please come forward? Looks like #2 Tularosa beat #2 Estancia (Sept 8 NMHSCA 2A polls) in three straight sets on Tuesday night. An impressive win considering Tulie lost their setter, Carli Jo Brill at the Roswell tournament last weekend. Up next for the Brill-less Wildcats is the Mountain Top tournament in … Read more
Some quick observations on the teams I saw during this years Sweet 16 tournament. Gadsden Panthers Gadsden played like the number one team in the state. There’s no official tournament MVP, but Nathalie Castellanos could easily have earned the honor. Castellanos typically is a threat, but I’ve never seen her play so consistently and dominating … Read more
Congrats to the Gadsden Panthers, who won the 2010 Sweet Sixteen Tournament this weekend. The Panthers beat Mayfield in three straight sets, in a hard-fought match Saturday afternoon. “I thought it was a great tournament with a solid field. We are proud to win the Sweet Sixteen Championship for Gadsden High,” said head coach Al … Read more
Al Rosen is the head coach of the Gadsden Panthers and El Paso Wildfire Volleyball Club. A transplant from Hawai’i, Rosen is a lifelong student of the game. A straight shooter with high expectations of his players, he has found a consistency and success that eludes many of his colleagues; in 2010 the Wildfire was … Read more