Lady Cats earn road split in district volleyball

HOBBS – Clovis High’s volleyball team came up short in its bid for a District 4-5A road sweep this week as Hobbs rallied for a 22-25, 25-17, 25-18, 25-12 victory on Thursday night.

The Lady Cats (11-8, 1-1 district), who opened their 4-5A slate with a four-set victory at Carlsbad two nights earlier, jumped on Hobbs (8-11, 1-1) early in Thursday’s match and claimed the opening set. Games 2 and 3 were close for a while, but the Lady Eagles pulled away late in both before dominating the final set.

“We need to do a better job,” CHS coach Cristy Hill said. “They tipped (over the Clovis block) a lot and we were on our heels defensively. We lost our confidence in there somewhere.”

Junior middle blocker Jayla David compiled 18 kills for Hobbs, while senior setter Madeline Lentz (17 digs, 17 assists, 10 aces) posted a triple-double and junior outside hitter Kyndle Cunningham (11 kills, 21 digs) logged a double-double.

Senior outside hitter Kailyn Jefferson had 11 kills and 18 digs for Clovis, but the rest of the team managed just 10 kills in the match. Senior middle hitter Elizabeth Warwick had four blocks and three aces, while junior setter Amanda De La Rosa also compiled a double-double with 19 assists and 15 digs.

Senior libero Aeryanne Conn added two aces and a team-high 20 digs.

The Lady Cats return to action on Tuesday with a 6:30 p.m. district match against Roswell High at Rock Staubus Gym.

Clovis 3, Carlsbad 1 (Tuesday) – In Tuesday’s district opener, the Lady Cats battled through three competitive sets before finally opening things up in Game 4.

“We were up most of the time,” Hill said. “We were even up in Game 3 pretty handily and kind of let them come back. You’ve got to play to win and (not) play to not lose.”

Jefferson had 16 kills and four aces for Clovis, while Warwick combined 10 kills and team highs of two blocks and five aces. Meantime, De La Rosa notched a double-double with 12 digs and 38 assists, and also chipped in six kills and two aces.

Hill said overall the team had a solid performance to win its second in a row after a five-match losing streak.

“Amanda is doing a better job of spreading the ball out, which is what we need,” she said. “Liz (Warwick) hit the ball really well tonight, and she also served well.”

Conn collected 19 digs and junior outside hitter Jori Mondragon added 12.