East Mountain Makes Statement in Opening-Round Sweep of Robertson

RIO RANCHO, N.M. — Embracing their role as tournament underdogs, the East Mountain Lady Timberwolves swept Robertson 3-0 on Thursday in the opening round of the Class 3A state volleyball tournament at the Rio Rancho Events Center.

Backed by aggressive serving and dominant net play from the opening serve, East Mountain avenged an earlier regular-season sweep by the Cardinals. The Lady Timberwolves controlled the pace throughout the match, forcing Robertson to burn five timeouts before East Mountain called its first.

“Absolutely not,” East Mountain head coach Claire Rose said when asked if she expected such a dominant performance after losing to Robertson in straight sets earlier this year. “As we’ve talked about all season, we are in this underdog label, and we’re really leaning into that. Our mission going forward was to hustle like heck and to celebrate, because sometimes people think it’s weird when the lower seed is very excited to be here. But we’re very excited to be here.”

Rose credited her team’s preparation in the film room for the turnaround.

“I knew it was going to be a tough match, but we have been studying Robertson,” Rose said. “We’ve been watching their film, watching our game, and trying to be good students of the game so we could come out and put on a performance like that.”

Even with a commanding lead in the opening set, Rose used the frequent stoppages to keep her players grounded and prevent any letup against a seasoned Robertson squad.

“It’s to keep our excited energy even, but to still not let off the gas,” Rose said of her message during timeouts. “We knew after that first set that the remaining sets were not going to be like that. They wanted to fight. They want to be here too, and they put up a good fight — but we were better.”

With the win (25-4, 25-23, 25-17), East Mountain advances to the quarterfinals to face top-seeded St. Michael’s at 2 p.m. Thursday at the Rio Rancho Events Center.

For Rose, the matchup against the No. 1 seed is an opportunity to prove the strength of East Mountain’s district, which she felt was overlooked in the state tournament seeding. Before the tournament began, Rose texted fellow district coaches at Sandia Prep and Cottonwood Classical Prep with a simple message: “Let’s go upset some people today, girls, and let’s gain some respect for our district.”

“We are looking forward to playing the top-seeded team because we really want to garner some respect for our school and for our district,” Rose said. “We just really want to make a name for ourselves and show that we belong here on this stage.”

St. Michael’s 3 East Mountain 0

Top-ranked St. Michael’s lived up to its Class 3A billing with a 3-0 sweep of the Lady Timberwolves in the tournament’s second round. While East Mountain improved as the match went on, the Horsemen closed out each set: 25-9, 25-18, and 25-19.

The loss drops the Lady Timberwolves into the consolation bracket against Navajo Prep, which fell to Cottonwood Classical (25-21, 25-15, 25-17).

First serve is set for 8 a.m. Friday at the Rio Rancho Events Center. With a win, East Mountain will advance to face either Cottonwood Classical or Shiprock at 2 p.m.

The Lady Timberwolves roster includes Henley Hatley, Bella Rae Winnicki, Elly Saldana, Eva Rullo, Skylar Graff, Ada Hansen, Evelyn Salberg, Olivia Gonzales, Sonya Gonzales, Alynna Cook, and Calla DiMaio.