Roosevelt County state volleyball round-up

RIO RANCHO — Three Roosevelt County volleyball teams began their quest for a state title on Thursday, as Portales, Elida and Floyd all took part in the pool play portion of the 2017 NMAA State Volleyball Championships.

Portales, the overall No. 3 seed in the 4A bracket heading into pool play, took care of business against Bosque and Santa Fe Indian School. Ironically, the Rams, who will be the No. 1 seed in their portion of the bracket this afternoon, will match up with a familiar foe.

Moriarty, who was swept by Portales in the regular season — but beat in the District 4 championship game last Saturday, will be the Rams’ opponent in the quarterfinal at 3 p.m. The winner of that match will advance to the semifinal at 8:15, where they’ll face the Silver/Bosque vs. Robertson winner.

As for Thursday, Portales coach Charity Gomez was pleased with her team’s effort. “I’m really proud of how we came out from the beginning, playing our tempo and controlling the ball,” Gomez said. “We passed the ball really well and the girls played with a lot of focus and winning energy.”

Over in 1A, No. 1 Elida beat Springer and Floyd. The Tigers, who are seeking an eighth-consecutive state crown, will face district rival Grady at 9:45 a.m. today. Grady got past Hondo Valley in three sets Thursday night, as the Grady/Elida winner will advance to the semifinal at 6:30, where the winner faces the Coronado/Cimarron vs. Des Moines winner.

While Elida got the job done on Thursday, Tigers coach Darrell Chenault felt there was something left to be desired from his team’s performance. “It was an up and down day,” Chenault explained. “(In fact) one game we played awful. (Needless to say) we got to play a lot better tomorrow.”

Floyd, who lost to Elida in pool play, had to play another match late Thursday night. The Broncos faced Animas, with results unknown as of this writing. Should Floyd be victorious, it would play No. 1 Melrose in the 1A quarterfinal at 11:30 a.m.