SANDIA PARK — The East Mountain Lady Timberwolves matched a program milestone Tuesday night, sweeping the Cuba Lady Rams 3-0 at the Vista Grande Community Center to tie the school record for wins in a single season.
With the straight-sets victory, East Mountain improved to 12-7 overall and moved into a tie atop District 5-3A with a 3-1 league mark. The 12th win equals the mark set in 2021 when the Lady Timberwolves finished 12-12 under Kasi Giovenco, who After an encouraging 10-13 campaign a year ago, stepped away from the sideline to focus on her athletic director duties.
East Mountain has maintained that upward trajectory in its first year under head coach Claire Rose.
The sweep was not without its tests, particularly during a second set where the Lady Timberwolves had to battle out of an uncharacteristic mid-match rut.
“In theory, I would like to say that we were practicing our comeback skills,” Rose said. “Really, what it is, is we call it ‘the funk’ — whether we’re allowing the other team’s skill level to influence us or we’re just making silly mistakes and not taking accountability. It can get away from us, but we still don’t want sets like that to get away from us too much. They did not, so that’s why I say we’re harnessing our comeback skills.”
The win served as a strong rebound performance following a 3-1 road setback at Bosque on Oct. 15.
“I’m very thankful that happened,” Rose said of the Bosque match. “I felt like we were kind of on this high of winning, winning, winning. I never have a problem with us having a humbling game where we have to check ourselves a little bit, because we do have so much work to do and we can’t let up. Bosque is a good team; they’re very underestimated this season. I’m okay with the loss, and I’m proud of them for keeping that in their hindsight.”
As for tying the school record, Rose deflected credit to her squad.
“That feels super cool. I feel very honored,” Rose said. “It’s a really special group of girls, so it’s hard for me to take any credit for it because they are very passionate about this sport and about each other, and remembering that we all want the same thing, which is to go to states. That’s been the mantra since the summertime, and it’s been an honor to help usher them into that hopeful conclusion of our season.
“I’ve never been a big win-loss coach,” Rose added. “It’s more the progression, because I’ve always coached lower levels, so it’s about how we end the season and if we feel like we got percentage points better. But now that I’m a head coach where the numbers matter, it feels really neat to be part of that.”
With four regular-season district matches remaining, the Lady Timberwolves will have multiple opportunities to claim the program win record outright. East Mountain travels to face Sandia Prep on Thursday, Oct. 22, before hosting Cottonwood Classical Prep on Oct. 27. The team closes the regular slate in November with a home rematch against Bosque on Nov. 3 and a road trip to Cuba on Nov. 5.
East Mountain Lady Timberwolves Roster
- #2 Henley Hatley
- #3 Bella Rae Winnicki
- #8 Skylar Graff
- #9 Ada Hansen
- #10 Evelyn Salberg
- #11 Olivia Gonzales
- #13 Sonya Gonzales
- #14 Alynna Cook
- #18 Calla DiMaio
Originally published on East Mountain News.