Lady Cats beat Portales in fifth-place contest

A Clovis-Portales meeting in a volleyball tournament is always a treat, but both teams would have much preferred to play in the finale instead of the consolation bracket.

Clovis took full advantage of a depleted Portales roster to beat the Lady Rams 25-20, 25-20, 25-17 to take fifth place in Gold (winners) bracket of the Clovis Invitational on Saturday at Rock Staubus Gym.

“I thought we bounced back pretty well from our loss (Friday) to Albuquerque Academy,” first-year Clovis coach Gabe Apodaca said. “I continue to harp on finishing a game, and I felt like we did that today.”

In the finals, four-time Class 2A state champion Texico cruised to the championship, sweeping Academy 25-19, 25-19, 25-22. The Lady Wolverines (4-0) haven’t dropped a game this season and have won 25 matches in a row dating to an early-season loss to Texas Class 2A power Bushland last fall.

Apodaca knew that Portales (2-2) was feeling the loss of its top hitters. He tipped his hat to the Lady Rams for staying with his squad.

“Ruth (Chavez, PHS coach) always works well with her girls,” Apodaca said. “It was a good test for us. I would have liked to be in this next game (championship).”

The Lady Rams lost the services of junior Danae Garza after a serious car accident earlier in the week, and sophomore Macy Mitchell wasn’t available for the Clovis match because of a family emergency.

“We just didn’t play very well,” Chavez said. “We were feeling the loss of our two hitters. But that’s life.”

Chavez said her team just didn’t hit the ball well against Clovis and never seemed to get into sync.

“We learned a lot from the tournament,” she said.

Clovis (2-2) got seven kills apiece from juniors Alek Mendoza and Paige Gardner, but the best surprise was at the libero position where senior and third-year starter Felicia Aguilar recorded a season-high 16 digs for the Lady Cats.

Apodaca said sparks such as Aguilar added are an important part of the formula for his team.

“We have a good core of juniors, but we need that senior leadership to carry us through,” Apodaca said.

The contest between the two local favorites was set up after Clovis was bumped from the championship bracket by Academy in Friday’s quarterfinals, while Portales lost to Denver City.

Both teams won consolation semifinals earlier Saturday, with Clovis downing Lovington and Portales defeating Carlsbad.

Texico, meantime, handed Denver City its first loss in 19 matches 25-22, 25-22, 25-17 in Saturday morning’s championship semifinals. Junior twins Jaylyn and Jordyn Cooper represented the Lady Wolverines on the all-tournament team.

Against Academy, Texico overcame early deficits in all three games to put away the Class 4A Chargers.

“The girls just battled,” coach Kristen Scanlan said. “It was fun to watch them. They just battled and played really hard.”