Hearts were in Dolores Volleyball fans’ throats Tuesday when Mikayla Puett arose gingerly after unsuccessfully pursuing a poor pass gifting the imposing guests another point and putting the Lady Bears, already trailing 1-0 in the night’s best-of-five, down 19-6 in the second stanza.
One of just two seniors on longtime head coach Gina Hollen’s 2023 roster, and having proved herself most able against Ignacio senior middle Solymar Cosio, losing Puett —o n Senior Night, no less — would likely have doomed DHS even faster than the Volleycats’ pace at the time. But somehow, Puett stayed in the 2A/1A San Juan Basin League match and very nearly inspired hard-luck Dolores to push the action into a fourth game.
At the least.
“Yeah, I kind of hoped we would,” she said afterward, “and we were really close the whole (third) game. But unfortunately it just didn’t work out. But it was aggressive, and those are best ones—even if you don’t win.”
“I tripped on one of my teammates, and it stunned me for a second,” said Puett, recalling her nervous brush with an ankle injury. “But I think it was, like, the adrenalin … and it’s fine now, doesn’t hurt. I got right back up, didn’t feel anything.”
And though Dolores began Game 3 looking for answers after losing by 18 points, the squad’s collective hope of avoiding a sweep was kept alive by Puett and classmate Kayla Tallmadge, both of whom were very much honored – in word and tribute – by their coaches and teammates prior to the varsities’ first serve.
Helped by a Puett roll shot into IHS’ center, plus a subsequent Puett scoring block, the Lady Bears broke out to a 5-0 lead and pressed Ignacio skipper Jennifer Seibel into burning an early timeout. DHS sophomore libero Keeley Clarke, however, emerged from the attempted interruption and aced IHS junior Ollyvia Howe, and Dolores then snatched the next point as well for an unexpected 7-0 advantage before sophomore Taylor Erautt, hoping to further turn up the heat, put an attack into the net.
IHS senior Kacey Brown then sent a back-row attack long, and DHS’ lead stood 8-1. Unluckily, the ’Cats clawed back to tie at 10-all after two Cosio aces, and the contest became a seesaw affair ultimately won by Ignacio when freshman Lady Bear Kendall Chavez served long over IHS freshman libero Lily Quintana’s head.
But the Volleycats’ 25-13, 25-7, 25-22 road win wasn’t assured until that final point; Chavez had cracked a kill off Cosio’s block to actually bring DHS level at 21-21, and Tallmadge drilled her final prep-level kill to keep Dolores (3-17 overall; 1-10 SJBL, 1-7 2A SJBL) believing at 24-22.
“All the tears …. I wasn’t expecting to be this emotional, but I was,” Tallmadge said. “I definitely had some nerves but I think, like, that one last shot really makes it special.”
“We definitely were super excited, like, especially after the second game,” she continued, speaking of how the Lady Bears, buoyed by Puett’s persistence, regrouped to fight to the end. “It was kind of calm, but there was excitement there … focusing on keeping consistent what we were doing and how we were working together.”
“We’ve seemed to have had our ups and downs this year,” Hollen said. “But I think we fought harder than ever, and we actually played some offense; that’s kind of been a huge struggle of ours. So I’m proud of how the girls played.”
“It’s still a young team, we’ve had some growing pains, but looking to the future … there’s a lot of good,” she said.
“So I think with maturity and work, carrying that momentum we have now into next season is going to be huge.”
“It was a developmental year; there was only Mikayla and I as ‘those’ upperclassmen—there were a few juniors as well—and I think getting to play with those younger girls really made it special,” Tallmadge said. “Getting to teach them—and also learn so much from them—was awesome.”
“Going into the season it was kind of rocky; I didn’t know how it was going to go,” said Puett. “But at the end of the season — and especially this (match) — I think we’ve all really improved.”
“My teammates … I love them a whole lot,” she said, “and … I’m glad my last game went as well as it did. It was fun.”
