AREA ROUNDUP: Rams notch pair of wins in tennis

ROSWELL — The Portales High boys tennis team picked up a pair of wins on Friday in a District 4/1-4A quad hosted by New Mexico Military.

The Rams, who lost on Thursday to the host Colts 9-0, came back with wins over Moriarty 7-2 and Hope Christian 5-4 in Friday’s play. It was the second district get-together in two weekends, with the teams playing last week in Albuquerque.

The Rams lost two of three matches in doubles, but went 4-2 in the singles division, with wins from Javier Gutierrez at No. 2, Zeke Aguirre at No. 4, Drake Long at No. 5 and Gerardo Calderon at No. 6. Long and Calderon gave PHS the one match it needed in doubles, beating the Huskies' Adam Taylor and George Miller 6-1, 6-4 at No. 3.

Earlier on Friday, the Rams swept Moriarty in doubles and also went 4-2 in singles competition.

The PHS girls, meantime, went 1-1 in the event, beating Moriarty 9-0 on Friday after losing to NMMI 7-2 on Thursday.

The Rams and Lady Rams are back in action on Tuesday, hosting Ruidoso in duals starting at 3 p.m. at the Bill Wahlman Center on Eastern New Mexico University's campus.

Golf — Both Clovis High squads earned their third team legs on Friday in the Texico Invite, played at Farwell Country Club, thus qualifying as team’s for next month’s Class 6A state meet at Roswell.

The CHS boys had the only full team in the tourney and finished with a four-man total of 311, putting four players under 80. Sophomore Kolt Bennett had the day’s best score at 75, followed by junior Christian Fontanilla at 78 and juniors Dakota York and David Maldonado at 79.

“Kolt played really well today,” Cats interim coach Dale Fullerton said. “Dakota York wasn’t feeling too good, but he played really well too.”

Bennett earned his second leg toward state, while Fontanilla, York and Maldonado each earned a third leg.

“There’s still things we need to improve on,” Fullerton said. “Our short game wasn’t great today.”

The CHS girls won a three-team competition, shooting 368 to 378 for Texico and 405 for Portales. All three earned team legs toward state.

The Lady Rams’ Janae Hale posted the day’s best score at 84, earning her third leg to state competition. She was followed by Clovis’ Raquel Anaya and Texico’s Hannah Rucker with 87s, with CHS sophomore Logan Clayton next at 88.

Anaya and Clayton had already qualified individually, while Hannah Reid earned her second leg with a 94.

“We get better every week,” Lady Cats coach Steve Speck said. “We’re in the state tournament now, so we’re just working to get better.”

All four teams are back in action on Tuesday in Roswell High’s Coyote Classic.