Cameron Goeldner | News-Bulletin photo
The Valencia Jaguars beat the Belen Eagles, 3-1, on Thursday, Oct. 21. They also defeated the Lady Eagles on Oct. 5, pictured here, by the same score.
TOME — It was a back-and-forth battle in Tomé last Thursday, Oct. 21, when the Belen High School Eagles traveled just down the road to face off against the neighboring Valencia High School Jaguars on the volleyball court.
Belen came out hot, narrowly defeating Valencia in the first set, 25-23, but Valencia, riding a small, two-game winning streak, answered right back, taking the next set 25-18.
The Jaguars didn’t let up for the rest of the evening, taking the third and fourth sets, 25-20 and 25-17, respectively. In the end, the Jaguars walked away with a decisive 3-1 victory.
The Eagles showed a lot of spirit as they fought for their first win, but the surging Jags were just too much to handle. BHS now sits at 0-15, 0-5 in district (including a 3-0 loss to Taos on Oct. 23 in Taos.)
After a somewhat slow start that saw the Jaguars struggling to find their rhythm, VHS finally got moving.
Coach Melissa Marberry-Profitt made some late set adjustments and by the end of the first set, they were using their size to dominate at the net and by the middle of the second set they were diving for balls and using their backcourt speed to steal points from Belen.
The Jaguars improve to 7-12 on the season, 3-2 in district.
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April 11, 2024
