Texico, Melrose reach state volleyball semis

RIO RANCHO – Texico and Melrose moved one step away on Friday from another crack at state volleyball championships.

Both the second-seeded Lady Wolverines in Class 2A and the top-seeded Lady Buffs in Class 1A reached Saturday’s state semifinals at Rio Rancho Events Center, with victories in Friday’s winners semifinals. Texico (21-4) knocked off third-seeded Tularosa 30-28, 25-17, 25-17 at Rio Rancho H.S., while Melrose (22-3) avenged a championship-match loss to Gateway Christian by besting the fourth-seeded Lady Warriors 29-31, 25-13, 25-18, 25-16 at Rio Rancho Cleveland H.S.

Tournaments were double-elimination through Friday’s play, while the semifinals and finals on Saturday were single-elimination.

Meantime, Portales, which lost to 10th-seeded Gallup 25-13, 20-25, 14-25, 25-20, 15-4 in the first round of Class 4A on Thursday at the Events Center, bowed out on Friday with a 25-23, 25-14, 23-25, 25-15 setback to No. 9 Santa Teresa.

Also, Grady was eliminated in the Class 1A bracket on Friday with a 27-25, 25-16, 27-25 setback to Springer. In Thursday’s opening round, the 11th-seeded Lady Bronchos (13-12) dropped a 25-13, 25-19, 22-25, 25-14 decision to sixth-seeded Roy/Mosquero.

In Friday’s action:

Santa Teresa 3, Portales 1 – The ninth-seeded Desert Warriors (18-8) made it a short stay for Portales, pulling out a back-and-forth first set and then dominating Game 2.

First-year Lady Rams coach Bailey Greenwalt thought her players may have been a bit overwhelmed by the environment.

“None of them had ever been here before,” she said. “The momentum just wasn’t on our side.”

She said she thought the narrow first-game loss carried over a bit into the second set.

“It’s kind of like you get stunned,” she said. “They had a good middle (hitter), and they did some good things.”

Sophomore middle hitter Skyler Massey (16 kills, 10 digs), senior outside hitter Audrey Paden (10 kills, 10 digs) and junior setter Myleigh Banda (23 digs, 46 assists) all had double-doubles for the seventh-seeded Lady Rams (16-9). Paden added two blocks and Banda had two aces.

Junior Evanie Fulfer collected 13 kills, senior Tya Rippee posted 15 digs while senior Angel Ornelas notched 10, and senior Brenna Jewell had a team-best three aces.

Melrose 3, Gateway Christian 1 – Melrose, which suffered one of its losses to the Lady Warriors (21-4) late in the regular campaign, overcame a tough loss in the first set to dominate Gateway the rest of the way in a rematch of last year’s championship match.

“It was a little bit of nerves, on both sides,” Lady Buffs coach Casey Jackson said. “We kind of had trouble getting around their block, but (the Lady Buffs) figured it out.”

Senior outside hitter Graci Odom posted 18 kills, 21 digs, three blocks and an ace for Melrose, while sophomore outside hitter Hally Draper also had a big match with 10 kills, 11 digs and three aces. Junior outside hitter/defensive specialist Kinlee Bradley collected 11 digs and a team-high four aces, senior libero Tenley Trollinger had 21 digs and senior setter Kye Saulsberry finished with 29 assists.

“We serve-received really well,” Jackson said of the final three sets. “They (Lady Buffs) had a good mentality; they weren’t too shaken up.”

Melrose was to face third-seeded Legacy Academy (22-4), which eliminated Springer 25-15, 25-19, 23-25, 25-11 on Friday night. Meantime, Gateway came back to beat Roy/Mosquero on Friday night and was to take on No. 2 Logan (19-5) in the other semifinal.

Texico 3, Tularosa 0 – The Lady Wolverines pulled out the first game after facing several match points, then cruised through Games 2 and 3 for their second win over the season over the Lady Wildcats (17-8).

“It was a tough match, but we didn’t panic,” Texico coach Gabe Jones said. “We got some free balls and put them away.”

Junior Kinzee Crow led the Lady Wolverines in Kills with 14, while senior Desiree Holman collected 16 digs and senior Ella Collins posted a double-double with 13 digs and 29 aces.

The Lady Wolverines were to face Menaul (18-8), which lost to Texico on Thursday but came all the way back through the losers bracket and eliminated defending champion Laguna Acoma 13-25, 25-19, 25-19, 23-25, 15-12 on Friday night, in one of Saturday’s semifinals. The other pitted top-seeded Cloudcroft (24-0) against Tularosa, with the championship tilt set for Saturday night.

In Thursday’s play:

Gallup 3, Portales 2 (first round) – The 10th-seeded Lady Bengals (18-6) rallied from a 2-1 deficit to post a 25-13, 20-25, 14-25, 25-20, 15-4 victory.

“They had a lot of runs,” Rowley said of the Lady Bengals. “We just didn’t nip them in the bud fast enough.”

Portales struggled early, then came back strong in Games 2 and 3. Gallup opened an 8-1 advantage in the fourth set and was in front most of the way, building leads of 19-9 and 24-14 and holding on as Massey put together a late service run.

Massey put together a strong match with 19 kills, 11 digs, five aces and a block. Fulfer had a personal-best 11 kills and added two blocks, while Paden collected 11 kills and 11 digs.

Meantime, Banda also finished with a double-double, posting 16 digs and 48 assists to go with a couple of blocks, and Ornelas added 15 digs.

Melrose 3, Mesilla Valley 1 (Class 1A, winners quarterfinals) – The Lady Buffs opened their bid for a state title with a 25-12, 25-13, 25-23 win over the SonBlazers (15-9), who kept it close in the third set but never got the lead.

“We missed a lot of serves that last set,” Jackson said. “The first and second games were solid. We served aggressively and passed well.”

Odom led the way with 12 kills and 12 digs, while Kambree Draper added 11 kills and two blocks. Meantime, Hally Draper had six kills and four aces, senior libero Tenley Trollinger picked up 14 digs, senior Karlee Elliott had nine digs and junior Kinlee Bradley posted six digs and four aces.

Texico 3, Menaul (Class 2A, winners quarterfinals) – The Lady Wolverines controlled the first and fourth sets against the Albuquerque-based Lady Panthers, but had their hands full in Games 2 and 3.

“They were a good team,” Jones said of Menaul. “They were way better than a (No.) 7 seed.

“We played really well in the first set, and then we had a little lull.”

Junior Aspyn Furrow had a big match for Texico with 16 kills, 16 digs and six aces, while Collins (15 digs, 29 assists) and Crow (12 kills, 13 digs) also posted double-doubles. Junior Adalyn Autrey added 13 kills and a pair of blocks, and Holman and junior Abby Haakma each had 10 digs.