Demons demonstrate maturity in holding off Rams in home opener

Holladay said her confidence in the moment was a reflection of her first-year head coach, Adam Garcia, and his faith in his team.

“He is very supportive of us, and we are doing really well with the dynamic with him,” Holladay said. “For me, personally, on that last point, I was like, ‘I’m gonna block this ball, no matter what. I’m gonna block it.’ I don’t care if they get it up, I’m gonna do it.”

That can-do attitude permeated through the Demons in almost every high-pressure situation against Rio Rancho. That was the case in Game 1, when the Rams tied the score at 13-all on Keyara Haywood’s kill, Santa Fe High scored six of the next seven points to take a 19-14 lead on Aleena Hubbard’s ace.

As Rio Rancho built upon the momentum gained in Game 3, it held a 14-11 lead in the ensuing game when the Demons rallied with four straight points. They finally took control of the match when Brooke Forno’s cross-court kill started a three-point run and a 21-18 lead Rio Rancho couldn’t overcome.

That demonstrated a maturity the team sometimes lacked in big moments, even though Santa Fe High was coming off a 16-9 season in 2023 and an appearance in the Class 5A State Tournament.

If anything, the Demons wanted to show they are capable of bigger things in 2024.

“We all want to be on the court, and we all want to win,” Holladay said. “We’re showing that we’re here to play and we’re not timid.”

While the Santa Fe High hitting attack will rely heavily on senior Zavia Burton and junior Aleena Hubbard, Garcia said the team has hitting depth that can make it hard for defenses to set up their blocks.

“We’ve been working on getting our middles going, and our right-side [hitters],” Garcia said. “It makes it harder for those big blocks to bunch us on the outside.”

The Demons have that across the board with Burton (5-foot-9), Hubbard (5-10), Holladay (6-0) and even setter Nicole Sallee (5-11). Sallee’s play also has come a long way from last year, when she played the last month still recovering from a torn right ACL suffered in the spring of 2023.

Sallee displayed quickness and agility on the court, as she managed several digs and was quick enough to get in position to move to distribute the ball to her hitters.

It made an offseason of conditioning worthwhile to see it come to fruition on the court.

“It allowed me to be able to be able to weight-lift and do track,” Sallee said. “I could work on my quick-twitch muscles so I could get back on the court [without a brace].”

For all the progress the team has made collectively, Santa Fe High still relies on the dynamic duo of Burton and Hubbard.

They combined for 24 kills, and Burton led the way with 14. Both of them, though, attacked the Rams block with a combination of power, guile and sometimes creative shot-making. Burton showed that in Game 4 when she knuckleballed a kill inside the 10-foot line from the left side to the right that gave the Demons an 18-17 lead.

For Garcia, who spent four years at Albuquerque Atrisco Heritage Academy before resigning after the 2022 season, having size was something new for him as a head coach.

“It’s nice to have size, but it’s even better to have size and athleticism,” Garcia said.

And if Holladay is a microcosm of the maturing nature of Santa Fe High, the mixture of size, athleticism, ball-handling and depth might make a dangerous combination come October.