Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Wildcats win battle for third, 5-4
Clovis senior Tony Betts makes the return Monday afternoon at the Clovis Community College tennis courts, while his partner Colby Coiner looks on against Santa Fe's No. 1 doubles team.
The Clovis girls also played Monday, including No. 1 singles player Jadan Andersen.
CLOVIS — Clovis High's boys tennis team knew what the stakes were, knew what a victory would bring.
So the Wildcats went out Monday and won those stakes.
Battling Santa Fe at Clovis Community College for third place in District 2-6A behind LaCueva and Eldorado, the 'Cats managed to squeak out a 5-4 victory. That meant a 3-2 district record and No. 3 on the district ladder for the purple and white. Clovis also ended the regular season at 7-3.
"This was big," Clovis coach Brad Heath said. "Personally, I was hoping for a better outcome where we would win 7-2 or 8-1, just because that might play into a factor when they make decisions for state. But the win is big."
Monday's match was a bit closer than the first time this teams played earlier in the season.
"We won (that match) 9-0," Heath said. "They really had to hunker down on Monday. There were some third-setters, some tough losses, but learning experiences for them. We're getting ready for districts on Friday."
Monday's match was initially scheduled for last Friday, but the wind gusts led to a postponement. Monday's weather was obviously much more agreeable. "We couldn't have asked for a better day," Heath said. "Glad we changed it to today with the wind."
Especially with how tight things got on Monday, how everything came down to the end.
The best-of-nine match was tied 4-4 when Clovis' David Heath was taking on Mason Nyquist at No. 1 singles. After the first set was tied 6-6, Heath won a tiebreaker 7-2 to take that set. He had it a little bit easier in the second set, winning 6-3 to sweep and give Clovis its win along with third place in the district.
"It got tense, it got very tense," Coach Heath said. "It got intense, so I was proud of David for keeping the mental side of the game and pulling off that victory for us."
The Wildcats' Colby Coiner beat Dylan Ramirez at second singles, 6-4, 6-4. Their other singles win came at No. 5 singles, where Dylan Gallegos beat Armand Sena, 7-5, 6-0.
Clovis received a No. 1 doubles victory from Gallegos and David Heath, who beat Ramirez and Matt Hunter, 6-3, 6-3. And the No. 3 doubles tandem of Grant Palla and Brandon Heath swept Curtis Cook and Jaden Martinez, 6-3, 6-3.
"Outstanding play by our seniors Colby Coiner and Dylan Gallegos," Coach Heath said. "Good play in our doubles. Some of these boys, it's their last time possibly playing high school tennis, so I'm proud of their efforts."
The Clovis boys will find out their official seeding on Sunday.
At deadline time, Clovis' girls were rounding out their last matches. The Lady Wildcats already knew they had lost the overall match, but Brittney Albin had notched a victory for them.
