PHS tennis squads split with NMMI

Portales High's girls won two of three doubles matches on Tuesday and edged New Mexico Military 5-4 in a tennis dual at Bill Wahlman Tennis Center.

NMMI's boys, meantime, earned an 8-1 victory over the Rams at the Bill Wahlman Tennis Center.

CMI correspondent: Joshua LuceroPortales freshman Ryann Privett returns a volley during her doubles match against New Mexico Military's Summer O'Brien and Jiaming Ren on Tuesday afternoon at the ENMU tennis complex. Privett and partner Hannah Evans posted a 6-2, 6-1 win.

Senior Emily Walker and junior Jessie Privett scored wins at No. 1 and No. 2 singles, respectively, and they teamsed up for a 6-2, 6-1 win over NMMI's Bailey Wohler and Susanna Pesonen at No. 1 doubles. Other PHS wins came from sophomore Hannah Evans at No. 6 singles and from Evans and freshman Ryann Privett at No. 3 doubles.

"I think we played pretty good," PHS girls coach Anne-Marie Bucksath said. "We're still trying to find the right combinations in doubles, but today was the first time we've had our full team together."

CMI correspondent: Joshua LuceroPHS junior Bailey Thompson-Garcia sends one back over the net during his singles match against New Mexico Military's Ricardo Kaufmann on Tuesday afternoon at Bill Wahlman Tennis Center. Kaufmann defeated Thompson-Garcia 6-4, 6-4.

Seven of NMMI's eight wins on the boys side were in straight sets, while Nathan Van Dam earned a win for the Rams when the Colts' Jorge Garza was unable to compete due to illness.

Still, PHS coach Brian Kirchner said his squad made a few strides.

"Our mental approach was good," he said. "We got some games off them, and we played loose and hard and aggressive."

PHS squads return to action on Friday in the Paul Baker Invitational at Hobbs.