LA CUEVA BEARS HAVE BEEN DOMINATING IN 2026
Steve Archibeque is in his 12th year as head coach of the La Cueva High School volleyball program and he has the Bears unbeaten at this point in the year. “This is one of the top three teams that I’ve coached at La Cueva,” he said. “The girls work hard and we have no drama. I’ve had other teams where we’ve won state and had lots of drama. These girls just work together and they love each other.”
“We’re very energetic and very driven right now,” said senior Jula Utash.
“We’re super competitive, there’s never a boring practice, we’re always getting after it,” said senior Jessenia Sedillo.
La Cueva reached the state final in four of the last five years, but came up short the last two seasons. “The eye on the prize is win the state tournament,” said Archibeque. “We don’t want to be the bride’s maid anymore and we want to be the bride.”
“Our goal last year was the get there, more than winning it because we knew Las Cruces was a tough team,” he added. “We played really well against Las Cruces last year, it just wasn’t enough. The motivation last year was ‘Let’s get there and do as well as we can.’ This year it’s ‘Let’s get there and win it all.’”
“We’ve kind of let that slip a lot of years in a row and it’s really about staying disciplined,” said Sedillo.
“We have the same group of girls that we did last year and there’s some pressure that comes along with that and I think we do well with pressure,” said Utash. There’s a target on our back and I think we play well with that.”
Jula Utash is one of the top players in the state with the ability to put it down from the outside. “She’s probably one of the best players I’ve had at La Cueva,” said her head coach. “She plays defense, she plays front row, she sees the court really well. She’s our go-to gun.”
The Bears recently won the Volleybash Tournament in Rio Rancho, earning another trophy to go along with their Metro Championship this year. All that matters for them now is winning that blue one at the end of the season, something they haven’t done since 2022. “We’re number one in the polls, but until the last day of the state tournament, anybody can get beaten on any given night.”
