Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
ALBUQUERQUE — Clovis’ boys tennis team rolled on Saturday, while the Clovis girls showed steady improvement, when each squad battled Manzano, completing a two-match district swing through Albuquerque.
A day after playing Sandia, both Wildcat teams visited the neighboring Monarchs for the second District 2-6A match for each. The Clovis boys won 7-2, while the girls lost 8-1 but had some hard-fought matches and a victory by Brittney Albin at No. 6 singles.
In boys singles, Clovis’ David Heath had a tough draw at No. 1 against Bryant Berall and lost 3-6, 4-6. The Wildcats prevailed in the other singles matches, with Colby Coiner beating Antonio Ramiro-Salas 6-4, 6-4 at No. 2; Sumito Risheson taking care of Chris Clark 6-0, 6-1 at third singles; and Dylan Gallegos defeating Gerald Klein 6-0, 6-0 at No. 4. Clovis won Nos. 5 and 6 singles by default.
The Wildcats captured two out of three doubles matches, again drawing top-notch opposition at No. 1, where Manzano’s Berall and Ramiro-Salas beat Coiner and Tony Betts 6-1, 6-2. Keltin Lamb and Brandon Heath defeated Clark and Klein 6-2, 6-0 at second doubles, and Clovis won No. 3 doubles by default.
“Going to Albuquerque to win two district meatches, that’s good,” Clovis coach Brad Heath said of the boys team that swept Sandia on Friday. “Especially since we’re headed into some powerhouse district teams — La Cueva and Eldorado. ... We play La Cueva on the 7th (of April) and Eldorado on the 14th.”
Plus, area rival Portales on Monday, beginning at 3 p.m.
On the girls side, Albin won a tough straight-setter against Kim Ho, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3). And Clovis’ Ryan Harmon lost a three-set dandy to Alyssa Sandoval, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.
Manzano had straight-set singles victories by Guilia Bentivegna over Jadan Anderson; Erica Villaredi over Abby Williams; Rachel Penner over J’Lea Fuqua; and Shelby Miller over Andy Mendoza.
In doubles, Bentivegna and Villaredi beat Anderson and Williams; Penner and Sandoval defeated Harmon and Fuqua; and Miller and Amber Kincaid beat Mendoza and Albin, all in straight sets.
While Coach Heath wasn’t able to watch as many girls matches as he would’ve liked, he was impressed by what he did see.
“Ryan Harmon, Brittney and Andy, those were some really good matches that went on,” Heath said. “Could’ve gone either way. So they battled pretty well.”
