Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
The Artesia and Portales High tennis teams could have put in for overtime on Tuesday.
The boys and girls squads combined to play eight supertiebreakers that almost resulted in not enough light to finish play.
The Lady Rams won the girls dual 7-2, going 3-2 in supertiebreakers, while Artesia swept all three of them in the boys clash and posted an 8-1 victory over the Rams.
In the girls dual, the Lady Rams got off to a 3-0 lead in doubles, winning twice on supertiebreakers, then split the six singles contests — four of which went to extra play.
Sophomore Ely Chavez, filling in with Samantha Lopez away because of a family situation, posted a 6-1, 6-1 win over Artesia's Miranda Green at No. 6 singles. She also teamed with Julissa Moore for a win at No. 3 doubles.
"I was really impressed with Ely Chavez," first-year PHS girls coach Ann-Marie Bucksath said. "Ely got a call last night to play, and she did really well."
The boys, meantime, just couldn't break through on the supertiebreakers, although all three of them were decided by two points.
"Our mentality was not very good today," Rams coach Brian Kirchner said.
Junior Bailey Thompson-Garcia posted the team's only win, an 8-3 win over the Bulldogs' Josiah Kraft, one of three pro-set matches played with the light dwindling.
"Bailey hasn't played since his eighth-grade year because he tore an ACL and hasn't been able to get it (healed) properly," Kirchner said. "Today, he showed a lot of poise and played pretty well."
The Rams and Lady Rams return to action on Friday and Saturday in an eight-team tournament at Roswell.
