Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Palo Duro’s Maria Palomares attacks over Clovis sophomores Lexi Cole, left, and Makinzie Johnson during Saturday’s match at Rock Staubus Gymnasium. The Lady Wildcats improved to 2-1 for the season with a four-set win over the Lady Dons, their second victory over Palo Duro this season.
Staff photo: Kevin Wilson Palo Duro’s Michelle Garcia hits the ball to the side of sophomore Miajavon Coleman’s block attempt in the third set of Saturday’s match. Coleman had five kills and two blocks in Clovis’ four-set win.
Deputy editor
The good thing about Clovis’ volleyball season so far isn’t a 2-1 record against what coach Gabe Apodaca has called a surprising amount of adversity.
link Palo Duro’s Maria Palomares attacks over Clovis sophomores Lexi Cole, left, and Makinzie Johnson during Saturday’s match at Rock Staubus Gymnasium. The Lady Wildcats improved to 2-1 for the season with a four-set win over the Lady Dons, their second victory over Palo Duro this season.
The key, Apodaca said, is the young Lady Wildcats are better on Saturday than on Friday, better on Friday than on Thursday, and so on.
Clovis showed just that Saturday against Amarillo Palo Duro, taking a rematch of their Aug. 25 season opener in a 19-25, 25-15, 25-21, 28-26 win Saturday at Rock Staubus Gymnasium.
In its season opener at Amarillo, the Lady Cats barely survived in five sets.
“I told the girls before the match that every day we have to get better, even if it’s just a little bit better,” Apodaca said. “Today, we did that by going four games instead of five.”
Senior Jaren Piepkorn had 10 kills and sophomore Lexi Cole seven in an early afternoon match where Clovis struggled early against Palo Duro, dominated the second game and rallied back from 8-3 and 18-12 deficits in a set it closed out with a 12-3 run.
Palo Duro coach Brandon Lichte said even while leading Clovis, it was tough to stop the Lady Cats’ momentum throughout.
“I think it was a matter of rotations,” Lichte said. “When we had No. 4 (Angel Reese) on the front row, we could go point-for-point, get first-ball kills. When she was in the back row, we struggled for points. It just seemed like we had her in the back row whenever Clovis had their best hitters up front.”
link Staff photo: Kevin Wilson
Palo Duro’s Michelle Garcia, foreground, hits the ball to the side of sophomore Miajavon Coleman’s block attempt in the third set of Saturday’s match. Coleman had five kills and two blocks in Clovis’ four-set win.
A tight fourth set — neither team led by more than three at any point —was tied at 21 when Clovis lost senior Brittany Reed to a potential knee sprain. The Lady Cats did lose that point, but didn’t miss a beat with sophomore Sarah Kendall as the injury replacement.
Clovis fought back from a pair of Lady Dons set points, and finally closed it out with sophomore Makinzie Johnson getting a go-ahead kill followed by an ace on a ball that barely found in-play territory.
“I think we did get better today,” said Johnson, who had five kills and a block. “We learned to stick together and communicate better. We had to fight in that final set.”
The game, a scheduled 2:15 start, got rolling much earlier due to a 25-12, 25-20 junior varsity match.
“They’re significantly better,” Lichte said of Clovis. “Their defense was better, they blocked better, and their JV team ... you would swear that wasn’t the same team we faced before.”
Apodaca said the team has already had a good share of adversity in three matches, with a five-set win at Palo Duro, a five-set loss to Goddard and an almost-five-setter on Saturday. There’s still adversity coming from the south, though, with Class 4A title contender Portales coming in Tuesday.
“It should be a great match for us,” Apodaca said. “We’ve got a rivalry with them, and it’s a good thing for our area. Ruth (Chavez, Portales coach) does a good job with her girls, and she’s going to have them ready to play.”
