PHS girls win dual on final match

ROSWELL — Sophomores Kassandra Short and Tessa Bryant provided the deciding win for the Portales High girls tennis team on Tuesday night.

Short and Bryant teamed up to beat Roswell High’s Marisol Campos and JoVanna Hernandez 6-2, 6-4 at No. 2 doubles in the final match of the dual, giving the Lady Rams a 5-4 team victory over the Lady Coyotes.

Meantime, Portales boys lost only one set all day and drubbed Roswell High 9-0.

Lady Rams coach Michelle Wallis said Roswell gave her team a tough time, perhaps a little testier than anticipated.

“I have to give Roswell credit,” Wallis said. “They were a good team.

“For us beating a (Class) 4A team, as young as we are, I think we did a good job. It’s a learning experience for us.”

Portales swept the top three singles divisions and top two doubles, and had just enough to win the dual. Bryant and junior Jayna Nance, meantime, took their opponents three sets at Nos. 4 and 5 singles.

On the boys side, Davey Riser came back after dropping the first set to beat Roswell’s Trong Nguyen 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 at No. 6 singles. Other than that, the Coyotes never got closer than 6-3 in any set.

Thursday was extremely windy all over southeastern New Mexico, and Roswell was no different. But PHS boys coach Wade Fraze said it may have actually helped his team.

“I think it played to our advantage,” he said. “We practice in those conditions every day.”

Overall, Fraze said there wasn’t much to complain about.

“I just think we’ve improved every day,” he said.

The Rams and Lady Rams return to Roswell in their next action, playing at Goddard High on Tuesday.