Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Staff photo: Matthew Asher Senior Brittany Reed goes up to get a kill in Tuesday's match at the RAC in Portales. PHS defeated the Lady Wildcats 25-21, 25-18, 28-26.
Staff writer
PORTALES — The Portales Lady Rams volleyball team staved off a late-match collapse, but still finished with a 25-21, 25-18, 28-26 sweep of Clovis on Tuesday night at the Ram Athletic Center.
link Staff photo: Matthew Asher
Senior Brittany Reed goes up to get a kill in Tuesday's match at the RAC in Portales. PHS defeated the Lady Wildcats 25-21, 25-18, 28-26.
Portales (2-3) and Clovis (1-3) played the first set even, with neither leading by more than four points. The Lady Rams pulled away late to take a one-set lead.
They looked to put the match out of reach after building a huge lead in the second set, but Clovis’ defense refused to let up and kept the Lady Wildcats in the game until late.
“Our attacking was in a lull,” Lady Rams coach Charity Gomez said. “We’re trying different things. Sometimes there are going to be miscues when you’re working on something new, but I thought our defense was great.
“Clovis did a great job of hitting close balls. They’re so scrappy. Towards the end it was the question of who is going to get the kill. We were fortunate and got more of them.”
Again, the third set started off well for Portales as it opened a 19-12 lead, only to let it start to slip away. The Lady Cats eventually came back to tie the game at 21-21.
“We eliminated mistakes,” Clovis coach Gabe Apodaca said of his team’s comeback. “We made a lot of mistakes throughout the match and corrected them. We had the lead but Portales was at home, and they played like they were at home. They did a great job.”
Clovis once again tied the set at 25 and again at 26. However, the Lady Rams’ defense held tough, and they scored the final two points to close out the match.
“We’ve got to find ways to fight back when we’re down and stay on top,” Apodaca said. “We’re playing from behind and that’s just not working for us.”
Overall, Gomez was pleased with the win, but did cite some areas where she’d like to see improvement.
“The pins (outside hitters) did well,” Gomez said. “They’re getting better and kept the ball in play more. We’re not getting the kills I’d like. I just think our tempo is getting better. We’re passing the ball better.
“Once we get into our offensive rhythm I think we’re going to be very competitive and hard to stop. We have so many attackers coming for the ball.”
The Lady Cats return to action on Friday and Saturday in the Zia Classic at Roswell, while Portales’ next outing is next Tuesday against Goddard at the RAC.
