A volleyball weighs between 9 and 10 ounces–little more than half a pound. A spectator might be fooled into believing the best volleyball teams find ways to keep such a light target from floating away; however, the 2024 Las Cruces High School Bulldawgs have discovered how to match lightness, and elevate their play with joy, skill, confidence–and fun.
A Las Cruces Digest Report
Photos and Story By: Levi Gwaltney, Editor
Bracket Images: Courtesy jp_productions09 (from Facebook)
A quote from the 1988 Las Cruces High School Yearbook: “Without ‘The Leup’ this roller coaster would have been no fun.” Almost 40 years ago, the Las Cruces High School volleyball players from the 1987 season learned the secret weapon of Coach Leupold–fun!
Watching the Bulldawgs play Los Lunas in the title match of the Jane Leupold Sweet 16 Tournament, it became clear that fun remains a hallmark of this Las Cruces High School team. The joy the players exhibited on the court was a bit of a curiosity, at first. It is rare to see a combination of both dedication and happiness on display at the same time, but there it was for all to see. On the court stood a team confident enough to play the game to the best of their ability for no other apparent reason than to have fun doing it.
On only two occasions during the championship match did Coach Leupold shout out from the bench. One time, he reminded the players to “cover the corners.” The second time was after a well-executed point. “You aren’t going to cheer for that?” he asked the team. The “Leup” was not going to allow a single moment of innate competitiveness stand in the way of acknowledging the joy of that moment.
About the Jane Leupold Sweet 16 Tournament
The tournament is an Olympic-style combination tournament with Friday pool matches used to seed the Saturday brackets. It is a very smart way to ensure all sixteen teams have the opportunity to play 5 matches over the two day period. The tournament is one that emphasizes the game of volleyball over the desire to determine who the ultimate winner will be. (Special thanks to @jp_productions09 for the graphics.)
Pool play on Friday determined the following seeding for Saturday’s matches:
The Silver Bracket Championship match pitted the Silver High School Fighting Colts against the Rio Rancho Rams. The match went 5 sets with Rio Rancho winning the Silver Bracket Championship match–this earned them the tournament’s third place trophy.
The scores for each of the matches can be found on this Google Docs page created for the tournament.
Gold Bracket Championship Match
The Bulldawgs faced the Los Lunas Tigers in the Championship match, and after falling behind in the first set, the team recovered to take the match in 3 straight sets. In the tournament, the Bulldawgs dropped a single set to Cleveland before ultimately advancing to play Los Lunas for the title.
After the final match, Coach Leupold was asked if there was anything he would like included in this story. “They showed great teamwork out there,” he started. “They really worked hard in practice and came together as a team.” His responses had a humble sincerity, but his facial expression seemed to indicate he wasn’t happy with the cliché nature of his answers. He paused, then looked up with a thinly veiled grin creeping into his expression–a twinkle in his eyes shining through his glasses. “I think we’ve got a good team,” he said.
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