Portales hopes third time a charm against Dons

Based only on the events that have transpired this volleyball season, Portales High is not destined for its fourth-straight state title match appearance.

However, the Lady Rams have two reasons to think a victory over West Las Vegas in today’s 1 p.m. Class 3A semifinal is possible, despite going 0-2 against the Lady Dons this year.

Number one, Portales coach Ruth Chavez and her players believe they are not the same team that West Las Vegas beat in four games in early October.

And number two? As Chavez always says around tournament time, you never know who’s going to perform well under pressure.

Chavez hopes Portales is a team that performs well in that scenario, as she addressed the team following Wednesday’s practice about not having a “deer in the headlights” look today at Roswell High, when the Lady Rams and Lady Dons face off.

“We don’t want them to go in scared. We want them to have the game of their life.”

Though the Lady Rams have a team full of experience — Portales (12-10) has six players from last year’s 3A runnerup — Chavez wanted to make the point to her younger players as well.

The improved play of Portales’ younger players — most notably underclassmen Morgan Hill, Ashleah Richards and Stefanie Sharrock — is part of the reason the Lady Rams have recovered from a 1-4 start.

“We’ve just a better team now,” said senior outside hitter Erika Cook. “We’ve worked really hard the past three weeks.”

Cook said West Las Vegas is a scrappy team on defense, but she thinks the Lady Ram hitting attack will be tough to stop for an entire match.

“If we give 100 percent,” Cook said, “we’ll come out on top.”

On the other side of the four-team bracket are Lovington and Robertson, who face off at 3 p.m. Lovington beat Robertson twice during the regular season, and gave Portales a scare during the District 4-3A championship two weeks ago.

Should Portales face Lovington in Saturday’s state title match, Chavez knows beating Lovington for the fourth time this year will be harder than any of the other three matches.

“We know we can’t take them lightly because they get better every time,” Chavez said of Lovington. “We can’t take anyone lightly.”

Both of Friday’s semifinal matches are at Roswell High, while Saturday’s title match (6:15 p.m.) and third-place match (9 a.m.) are at Goddard High.