CHS tennis teams sweep Raton

Clovis High sophomore Zach Witmyer returns the ball during his singles match against Raton’s Joey Roberts Tuesday at the high school courts. (CNJ staff photo: Eric Kluth)

The Clovis High boys and girls tennis teams made short work of Raton on Tuesday in tennis duals at the CHS courts, the CHS boys winning 7-2 while the girls posted a 9-0 shutout of the Lady Tigers.

Clovis’ girls, now 2-0 this season in duals, did not lose a set in sweeping through the nine varsity matches plus two extra matches. There were only three sets in varsity matches that were closer than 6-2.

For the boys, 1-1, Clovis’ only losses came on tiebreakers. At No. 1 singles,Zach Witmyer split sets with Raton’s Joey Roberts, then lost a “super-tiebreaker” to 10 points (10-5) that determined the match winner.

At No. 4, the Tigers’ Michael Neurauter beat Clovis’ Cory Young 7-5, 7-6, winning the second-set tiebreaker 12-10.

“The weather was great today,” CHS coach Billie Merritt said. “It was nice the kids can actually just play tennis and not have to chase the ball all over.”

The duals were a late addition to the schedule. Class 3A Raton had put out a call seeking an extra match, Merritt said.

“I didn’t know what to expect playing Raton,” she said. “I think we played them in a tournament about five years ago.

“‘Small-school’ doesn’t really mean anything in the world of tennis. I figured their top kids would probably be pretty good, and they were.”

Winning should be a boost, especially for the boys team.

“The boys really played well,” she said. “They just don’t have the experience yet, but it was nice for them to be able to win.”