Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
RUIDOSO — The Ruidoso Lady Warriors took three hard-fought games Saturday night for a 25-18, 25-23, 25-21 win over Portales High in the finals of the district 4-3A volleyball tournament.
Both teams qualify, though, for Class 3A state competitition in Albuquerque Nov. 11-13 at Manzano High School and the University of New Mexico’s Johnson Gym.
Neither team got much of a lead throughout the match. Portales (6-15) led 12-9 in the first game, but the Lady Warriors (16-3) went in front for the first time 17-16 on a kill by senior Ashley Harkey.
With the match tied 18-18, senior Christine Brown’s kill started a game-ending 7-0 run for Ruidoso.
Portales led early 6-4 and 7-5 in the second game, but Ruidoso went on a 6-0 run to open a 17-11 lead. Portales tied the score 22-22 on a block by junior Morgan Hill and trailed 24-23 after a kill by Hill before Ruidoso’s Amanda Gardner got a kill to give the Lady Warriors a two-game lead.
Junior Megan Kabrick’s kill started a 3-0 run which gave the Lady Rams a 6-5 lead in the third game. Portales led 11-8 after a kill by soplhomore Briana Hernandez, but couldn’t add to the margin.
Ruidoso tied the score 17-17 on a Portales error and never trailed again. Kabrick’s kill pulled the Lady Rams to 22-20, but Brown and Herrera countered with kills and Ruidoso got the final point on a Portales service error.
Vixens top Lady Tigers — At Fort Sumner, the top-seeded Vixens jumped on Elida early and handed the Lady Tigers a 25-12, 25-8, 25-13 loss in the District 3-1A volleyball tournament championship game on Saturday.
Fort Sumner is scheduled to host a four-team regional next weekend, including Elida, Des Moines and Cimarron. The latter two teams met Saturday night for the District 1-1A championship at Des Moines.
Elida coach Darrell Chenault said the Lady Tigers (16-6) never got anything going against the Vixens (18-3).
“We were pretty much intimidated,” he said. “We just couldn’t pass the ball. They got a couple of good attacks on us early and got us on our heels.”
The 1-1A runnerup will face Fort Sumner in a 6 p.m. semifinal on Friday, with the 1-1A champ taking on Elida at 7:30 p.m. The regional championship game is set for 7 p.m. Saturday.
Conquerors fall — Faith Triumphant took on the top six-man team in Texas on Friday and held its own for a quarter. Then the roof fell in as Midland Trinity ran away to a 76-25 victory at Conquerors Field.
The Chargers (8-1) rolled up 60 points in the second quarter, capped by junior Chris Compton’s 76-yard interception return for a touchdown on the final play of the half as the game ended at that point on the 45-point lead rule.
For a quarter, though, the Conquerors (2-5) held their own — they trailed 16-13.
“This is by far the best team we’ve played,” FTCS coach Shawn Kelly said. “I didn’t think we played too badly against them (early).”
Junior running back Matt Roam scored eight of the Chargers’ 10 touchdowns on runs of 20, 57, 45, 33, 25, 20, 18 and 12 yards. Trinity’s other score came on a 30-yard return of a free kick by senior Luke Hoffman after the Chargers sacked Conquerors quarterback Luis McCain for a safety.
Junior Caleb Richards scored all four touchdowns for Faith Triumphant — on passes of 20, 16 and 8 yards from McCain, and on a 4-yard run.
