Prep volleyball: State champ La Cueva dominates Journal's All-Metro team (with gallery)
Dec. 17—State champion La Cueva dominated yet another high school volleyball season, and the Bears are the dominating presence once again on the Journal's All-Metro teams.
No fewer than five La Cueva players made the final cut of 12 this year, including two on the first team.
That list is led by 5-foot-10 outside hitter Ella Sanders, who registered over 400 kills for the Bears in their 27-0 season. Just about half of all kill attempts Sanders made ended up as a point for La Cueva. She is the only senior among this year's group of 12.
Eldorado junior Reese Russell had a terrific fall for the Eagles, and she is also one of the three first-team hitters. The 5-9 Russell banged home nearly 500 kills for the burnt orange.
Sanders' hitting teammate at La Cueva, 6-foot junior Tea Kalajdzic, was the third hitter on the first team following a 269-kill season for a Bears team that was replete with hitters.
In the middle, it is 5-11 Cleveland junior Lauren Snippen. She is one of two outstanding middles for the Storm, which reached the state semifinals in Class 5A last month, losing to La Cueva in that round. Although she was a middle, Snippen was still one of the most potent offensive hitting threats in all of 5A.
In a season that featured a handful of superb setters, the first-team choice is Cleveland junior Marian Hatch.
The sixth and final member of the first team is Cibola junior libero Makayla Martinez, a player Cougars coach Christina Norton playfully described as "a psycho. In the best way possible."
Second team All-Metro
Hitters: Ella Parker, 6-0, jr., Cibola;
Cecilia Vance, 5-9, soph., Rio Rancho;
Victoria Marthaler, 6-0, jr., La Cueva
Middle: Sophie Diouf, 5-11, soph., La Cueva
Libero: Maya Perea, 5-5, fresh., St. Pius
Setter: Karyna Werley, 5-8, soph., La Cueva
