The Mancos Lady Bluejays volleyball program has been fortunate under coach Ramona Shepherd.
Theyre an annual contender for the 2A San Juan Basin League title, which has resulted in four straight trips to the state tournament in Denver. The Lady Bluejays have made it to the Denver Coliseum five of the past six years. The only thing missing is winning games at the state tourney to compete for a state championship.
The cupboard is stocked with young and veteran talent for Mancos, which is coming off a 19-9 season in which only two seniors graduated.
I have a big squad of freshmen, but the freshmen are a very good bunch of athletes, Shepherd said. Theyre going to be good this year, but its something to look forward to for next year.
Freshmen Courtney Colyer and Jessica Willburn will start at outside hitter and libero. Sophomore Emily Funmaker (outside hitter), junior Megan Hess (middle hitter) and senior Jacey Cox (middle hitter or right side hitter) will start. Senior captains Erica Blackburn and Aimee Johnson will be No. 1 at setter and hitter. Johnson moves to the middle from the left side.
As always in Shepherds program, expectations are high.
Both of them (Blackburn and Johnson) were first-team All-Conference last year. Were going to be contenders, Shepherd said. Who we have to look out for leaguewise is Norwood. Norwood won the league last year, but we were the only team to beat them. Can we make it to state? Yeah. But its going to depend on the growth and maturity of the freshmen throughout the season.
Along with Norwood, Telluride will be tough in SJBL play. Rivals Dolores and Dove Creek always present tough matches. Dolores won two of the three matches against Mancos last year, but the Lady Bluejays beat the Lady Bears in the district tournament.
I never look past them, Shepherd said about Dolores. Theyve always been really scrappy kids.
In the offseason, the Lady Bluejays played in summer tournaments at Bayfield and Alamosa against regional teams in the Four Corners and San Luis Valley. The underclassmen found out what the level of high school varsity volleyball was like at the offseason tournaments in order to prepare them for the regular season.
It will be nice to have a little bit more experience on the court, Johnson said about the underclassmen. Well also have backups. Well be able to count on them a lot more. It will be good.
The regular season begins Friday on the road against the Durango junior varsity at around 6 p.m. The match with the Lady Demons JV is the first of a home-and-home series with the next contest in Mancos on Tuesday, Oct. 4.
Mancos will travel to Bayfield (3A) on Tuesday, Sept. 13, to take on a very good Lady Wolverines squad that is the defending Intermountain League champions. The Lady Bluejays will host nonconference schools Whitehorse (Montezuma Creek, Utah) on Saturday, Sept. 17, and Red Mesa (Teec Nos Pos, Ariz.) on Thursday, Oct. 20.
SJBL play begins on Friday, Sept. 9, at home against Telluride. Mancos goes to Norwood on Friday, Oct. 14, and hosts the Lady Mavericks Tuesday, Oct. 25. The home match with Norwood concludes the regular season, and it may have conference title implications on the line.
Norwood is definitely a hard team. Last year, we went 1-1 with them, Johnson said. It gives us hope that we can still do it (win the SJBL), especially with these younger girls. Well see what happens when that time comes.
Reach Bobby Abplanalp at bobbya@cortezjournal.com.