Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Staff photo: Kevin Wilson Clovis seniors Shaylee Warner, left, and Heather Pastirchak go up to block a shot during their August match against Amarillo Palo Duro at Rock Staubus Gym. The Lady Wildcats open District 4-6A play tonight at home against Hobbs.
link Staff photo: Kevin Wilson
Clovis seniors Shaylee Warner, left, and Heather Pastirchak go up to block a shot during their August match against Amarillo Palo Duro at Rock Staubus Gym. The Lady Wildcats open District 4-6A play tonight at home against Hobbs.
Staff report
At 4-8, Clovis High’s volleyball team isn’t exactly enjoying one of its vintage seasons this year.
Still, the Lady Wildcats may be in pretty good shape heading into District 4-6A play tonight — they have the best record of the four teams, and they have history on their side.
“Everybody’s pretty much struggled this year,” CHS coach Gabe Apodaca said.
The Lady Cats open district play against Hobbs (3-10) in a 6:45 p.m. start at Rock Staubus Gym. Also tonight, district newcomer Alamogordo (3-8) plays at Carlsbad (1-11).
Clovis showed flashes in last weekend’s Peyton Chavez Tournament of Champions in Portales, winning seven of eight pool play games on Friday before losing four of six on Saturday and then dropping two bracket matches to finish fourth.
“We were on fire on Friday, and then we can’t beat a (Class) 2A team (Fort Sumner in pool play) on Saturday,” Apodaca lamented. “Until we find some consistency, it’s hard to judge how we’re going to do.”
All things being relatively equal, though, history is on their side. The Lady Cats have won the regular-season district title in all four of his previous years as coach, and won the tournament title in all but one season.
Hobbs and Carlsbad both have young teams, Apodaca said. Alamo, a team the Lady Cats haven’t played in Apodaca’s tenure, has had several similar opponents with CHS and scores are similar, he said.
“I think we match up pretty well with (Hobbs), with the experience we have in some positions,” he said.
Carlsbad was hard-hit by graduation and had a coaching change, with the Cavegirls’ junior varsity coach taking over the program. Clovis beat Carlsbad in three games earlier in a tournament at Roswell.
“They really seem to be struggling right now,” Apodaca said of the Cavegirls. “They were young last year; they’re young this year, but they have a year’s experience.”
