Pojoaque captures Chavez Invite title

PORTALES - Portales High and Texico gave it a run on Saturday, but nobody could take down the Pojoaque Elkettes in the Peyton Chavez Invitational volleyball tournament at the Ram Athletic Center.

Pojoaque breezed through pool play matches on Friday, with Portales coming in second and Texico third to reach Saturday's championship round-robin. There, the Elkettes (10-2) swept the Lady Rams 25-21, 25-22, 25-17 and the Lady Wolverines 25-7, 25-20, 25-14 to capture the title in the six-team event.

"They're a good, solid team," PHS coach Jacki Bailey said of Pojoaque. "They have girls who play year-round, and they're very smart."

Still, her squad's play left her encouraged.

"If that's one of the top four teams (in Class 4A), we're right there on the bubble," Bailey said.

Meantime, Clovis High's girls were fifth in the event. After going 3-7 in pool play, the Lady Wildcats (7-8) defeated Taos 25-20, 27-25, 25-21 and lost to Moriarty 16-25, 21-25, 26-24, 25-19, 15-12 in Saturday's consolation round-robin.

Junior Olivia Low led the Lady Rams (4-6) against Pojoaque with seven kills, four blocks and six digs, while junior Audrey Paden contributed six kills and 13 digs.

Texico (7-3) got past the Lady Rams behind seven digs and 12 assists from senior Catelyn Breshears. Senior Haley Disney had 10 kills, freshman Skyler Massey posted eight kills and three blocks and setters Maebri Knox (15 digs, 20 assists) and Myleigh Banda (13 digs, 14 assists) added double-doubles for the Lady Rams.

"Haley Disney played great this week, and Olivia Low's play was competitive," Bailey said.

Meantime, the Lady Wolverines recovered from a blowout loss in the first set to give the Elkettes a bit more competition the rest of the way. Senior Emma Wahlen led in kills with seven for Class 2A Texico, while sophomore Desiree Holman finished with 13 digs.

"It's good to play against teams in higher classes," said first-year Lady Wolverines coach Gabe Jones, whose squad hosts PHS on Saturday and returns to the RAC for another clash on Oct. 11. "That experience will help us down the road."

Junior Kailyn Jefferson compiled 23 kills while junior Aeryanne Conn had a double-double with 11 kills and 23 digs in the Lady Cats' marathon loss to Moriarty (7-4). Stats from the victory over Taos (5-5) were not available.

Clovis was slated to face Portales at the RAC on Tuesday night. PHS travels to Ruidoso on Thursday while the next outing for the Lady Cats is at Lovington on Oct. 6.

Before its return trip to PHS, Texico has a Thursday home date against Melrose.