Folsom hopefully learns lessons at Durango Classic

The Durango Classic held in Las Vegas last Friday and Saturday featured many of the top volleyball teams in the nation and the Folsom Bulldogs were one of them. The Bulldogs were invited to the tournament and decided to go and it was the right decision, as the team gained a lot of experience that should help them down the road this season when things get tough. "It was great and it was fun," Folsom High coach Devin Elmore said. "We got a chance to play a couple nationally-ranked teams. We took a set off of Mater Dei, and they were ranked fourth in the nation at the time. It was great for the kids to see that they could basically play against any team in the nation when they're at their best. Mater Dei is ranked high for a reason and they didn't get rattled after we beat them. That was also good for our girls to see. We've got to be able to finish those games." Folsom played six matches in the two-day tournament, winning two of them. Elmore felt the team should have won more, though. Folsom started the tournament with a two-game sweep of Moapa Valley from Nevada, 20-15, 20-16 before losing to Mater Dei, 19-25, 25-19, 25-11. Then just like against Mater Dei, Folsom took the first set over Punahou, 25-19, before losing the next two, 25-23, 25-17. "We were up 23-18 in the second set, just like we were against Mater Dei, and let it slip away, 25-23," Elmore said. "They scored seven straight points. They were one of the best teams from Hawaii. We've got to learn to put those matches away." The next day Folsom took two games from Kamehameha Hawaii, 25-20, 25-17 before losing two straight against Kamehameha Kapalama, 29-27, 25-20 and then to Hockaday, 26-24, 25-19. "We were up pretty good against Kamehameha and ended up losing 29-27," Elmore said. "A couple calls didn't go our way and that would get to us mentally and then we'd spiral. I honestly felt we could have beaten them. Then the last match against Hockaday, we were up 23-18 and a bad call here and a couple errors here and they've got momentum and they won the match. We were beating them something like 19-11 at one point." Despite losing four of the six matches, Elmore felt it was a great tournament to play in and a great experience for his girls. "It was a weird weekend in that the match against Mater Dei in the first set, hands down we played the best volleyball this team has played all year. Then in other sets, sometimes we played our worst volleyball. Overall, though, I thought we played well. No one blew us out; every game was close, and we had our chances. "I hope what the girls take from the tournament is to learn to be resilient. Not everything is going to go our way. You will have bad calls; we will make errors, these are little things and you need to be able to set those things aside. We need to focus on what we can control. We all have a common goal and that's to win the match and that's what we've got to focus on at all times." Folsom got back to work in the Sierra Foothill League on Monday, beating Whitney in three straight games, 25-18, 25-19 and 25-17. Folsom travels to Del Oro on Wednesday.