Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
CLOVIS — Clovis High’s tennis squads will be well-represented in this week’s Class 5A singles and doubles state competition.
Junior David Case qualified for the boys in singles, while the girls will send two singles players and a doubles team to the two-day event beginning today at Jerry Cline Tennis Center in Albuquerque.
Case finished second for the Wildcats in Friday’s District 4-5A meet, played at the CHS courts and at Clovis Community College. He won his first-round match 6-3, 6-2 and his semifinal contest 7-6 (7-4), 0-6, 6-3 before losing in the finals to Ethan Jimenez of Hobbs 6-2, 6-4.
Case is slated to face Cibola’s Ty Christensen in his opening match at 3:30 p.m. today. The winner turns around to take on third-seeded Leo Rocca of Albuquerque High in a 7 p.m. start.
In other boys singles play on Friday, Gerald Gonzales lost to Alex Palamino of Hobbs 6-2, 6-2, while Roman Galvan won an 8-1 pro-set decision in a play-in match before falling in the quarterfinals to Jimenez 6-1, 6-2.
For the Lady Cats, senior Ayia Al Saleh rolled through the singles bracket to take first place, losing only two games in the process, while junior Niliyaah Hall qualified by taking fourth. In doubles, sophomore Hannah Heath and freshman Hansini Lingala earned fourth place.
Al Saleh posted 6-0, 6-0 wins over Carlsbad’s Zoe Salas and Hobbs’ Naomi Recker to reach the district final, where she dominated Hobbs’ Isabel Armendariz 6-0, 6-2. Hall defeated Meadow Avallone of Carlsbad 6-2, 6-3 before losing to Armendariz 6-2, 6-2 in the semifinals and to Recker 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 in the third-place match.
Heath and Lingala won their opening-round match before losing in the semifinals and finals. The Lady Cats’ other doubles team, senior Charlese Phillips and sophomore Kaelynn Rodriguez, were ousted in the quarterfinals.
Hall faces La Cueva’s Victoria Outkin while Al Saleh takes on Albuquerque High’s Gizelle Amaya in 4:30 p.m. opening-round matches today. Winners advance to 10 a.m. quarterfinals on Thursday.
Heath and Lingala take on Eldorado’s Kate Crandall and Addison Arndt in a 3 p.m. start today, with the winner moving on to an 8:30 a.m. quarterfinal on Thursday.
Meantime, Portales will send junior Jenna Brown and sophomore Maggie Duong to Class 4A doubles. They have a 3 p.m. first-round match today against sophomores Tiana Sanchez and Anna Wagner of Miyamura at Albuquerque Academy, with the winner moving into an 8:30 p.m. quarterfinal on Thursday at Jerry Cline.
Brown and Duong finished fourth in the district meet, taking out a New Mexico Military tandem 6-3, 6-3 in the quarterfinals before dropping a 6-0, 3-6, 6-4 decision to an Artesia foe in the semis. They then were beaten in the third-place match 7-5, 6-2.
The Lady Rams’ other doubles squad, sophomore Lorena Fernandez and freshman Kimberly Macias, won an 8-9 play-in match from a Roswell Goddard duo 7-5, 6-3 before losing to another Lady Rockets tandem 6-2, 6-0 in the quarters.
Eighth-grader Bella Lopez was the Lady Rams’ lone singles entry, and she lost to Lovington junior Nydia Guzman 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 in the 8-9 play-in match.
In boys singles, freshman Joseph Rutter lost to NMMI’s Mason Hicks 6-0, 6-1 while eighth-grader Josh Brown was eliminated by Artesia’s Alejandro Madrid 6-1, 6-4 in a 7-10 play-in match.
In doubles, PHS freshmen Eagan Reeder and Aiden Harvey advanced with a 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 win in the 8-9 play-in, but then lost to the top-seeded tandem from Lovington 6-1, 6-0. Freshman Joseph Garcia and eighth-grader Samuel Roberts were ousted by a NMMI tandem 6-0, 6-0 in the 7-10 play-in matchup.
Track — Clovis and Portales tuned up for district meets this Friday, competing in the eight-team Ross/Black Relays on Friday at Lovington.
The Wildcats were sixth with 42 points, just ahead of PHS with 40, in boys competition while the Lady Rams finished third with 59 points and Clovis fourth with 58 on the girls’ side. Hobbs was an easy winner in both divisions, with Artesia second.
For the boys, Rams junior Michael Reiss claimed a win in the 3,200 with a time of 10 minutes, 17.49 seconds. Meantime, Cats junior R.J. Nora posted wins in the 100 hurdles (14.60 seconds) and 300 hurdles (40.35) and freshman Sammy Fuentes came up a winner in the 1,600 in 4:44.99.
Senior Kylyie Paden earned wins in high jump (an even 5 feet) and pole vault (a personal-best 11-6) for the Lady Rams, while junior Emma Hurren ran first in the 1,600 at 5:50.17. Meantime, Clovis’ girls got wins from junior Zoe Linn in the 300 hurdles (49.82) and the 1,600 relay team (4:14.84).
The Cats and Lady Cats host District 4-5A competition at 3 p.m. on Friday at Leon Williams Stadium, while PHS squads travel to Artesia in 4-4A competition starting at 3:30 p.m.
