Hi,
This is something i can't give you any answer. Because it is not related to templates. Sorting products is taken care by Virtuemart Core. But there is one thing you need to be aware. Let's say, you sort product by "recent first" (or product number).
Visitor will be able to choose ASC <-> DESC. So, instead of "Latest First", once the DESC-ASC arrow is clicked (which is the tiny arrow in the sort drop down) the sort order will swapped. And this swapping will be saved in the session. So, the rest of the website will reflect that selected ASC-DESC selection (even though the visitor browse an another category).
So, i am guessing you have clicked that change SORT arrow once, and currently you are seeing the opposite settings of what you have chose in the VM Configuration. This is why you might think Virtuemart ignores your configuration. Actually it is not.
Clear the cache (of your internet browser), logged out from website and try to open your website again with a fresh new browser. The category page should show the product in the correct sorting setting this time (that you choose through VM Configuration)
Regards,
Support