The San Jon volleyball squad earned its first victory in years with a marathon 21-25, 25-15, 23-25, 25-17, 15-13 victory Aug. 24 over visiting Elida.
The Coyotes went 0-10 in its abbreviated previous season, and San Jon hadn’t won as a standalone program since defeating Clovis Christian on Oct. 19, 2017, in a district match before spending two seasons in a cooperative with Grady.
San Jon coach Jaree Elliott credited Bailey McEwen’s court game, Dakota Fisher’s passing and front-row play and Addie Lafferty’s serving in the win.
She said Karlee and Chantzee Elliott led her team in kills, and Sarah Archuleta led the team in assists and made key kills from the back row.
Elliott also credited role players Charmaynn Hall, Alexa Becerra and Perlita Ramirez for doing “exactly what was needed of them … at crucial times.”
“We didn’t have to rely on a few because everyone did their jobs, and we trusted each other,” she said.
The match was Elida’s season opener.
San Jon 3, Des Moines 0
San Jon cruised to its second victory in the same week with a 25-7, 25-7, 25-7 drubbing Saturday at Des Moines.
San Jon improved to 2-1 overall as Sarah Archuleta led the Lady Coyotes with service points.
San Jon had another match scheduled against Dora on Thursday, but it was canceled due to a COVID-19 case at Dora, putting the entire team under quarantine.