Cats volleyball pulls district split

CLOVIS — It wasn't exactly the bizarro world — where black is white, hello is goodbye, up is down. But it was indeed the reverse results from two nights earlier for the Clovis volleyball team.

Thursday, Clovis was swept by District 4-5A opponent Hobbs at Rock Staubus Gymnasium, just 48 hours after sweeping another district foe, Carlsbad, at the same place.

The Lady Wildcats showed scrappiness, heart and all that good stuff. But it wasn't enough to prevent them from getting swept 21-25, 19-25, 20-25, and absorbing their first district loss of the season.

Clovis fell to 1-1 in district play, 5-9 overall, due to facing a much better opponent this time around.

"They're just a good team," Clovis head coach Ruth Chavez said of Hobbs (11-4, 2-0). "They beat Roswell High; they're just a good team. ... But I thought we fought back and stayed with them at times. ... So I was pleased with our effort. They're an older, more experienced team. And we did well (against them) trying to do the things that we train them to do. I saw a lot of good things from us tonight."

Clovis did keep it a fairly tight contest throughout. The Lady Wildcats were as close as three points, 24-21, in the first set before Hobbs setter Sydney Norman came up with the finisher that gave the Lady Eagles a 1-0 match lead.

Mikyla Harkley opened the second set with one of her team-high eight kills to give Clovis a 1-0 edge.

And though Hobbs won the next three points, Clovis won four straight after that to take a 5-3 advantage.

It was 6-5 Clovis before Hobbs reeled off seven straight points to go up 12-6. An Antanishwa Molett point halted the Eagles' run, but didn't keep them from leading by as many as nine (18-9) later in the set. They soon led 24-17, a point away from taking a 2-0 match lead, but Clovis hung on and won the next two points.

On the point after that, however, Hobbs closed out the set. Libero Madison Rotunno began it with a serve, and middle blocker Mariah Jennings ended it with a kill.

The Lady Eagles seemed to be rolling toward a sweep, quickly building a 4-1 lead in the third set. It was eventually 9-6 Hobbs, but the Wildcats staged a comeback, winning the next four points to take a 10-9 edge.

"I was excited when we got 10," Chavez said, "because it was the first time we had been ahead all night."

Clovis stretched its lead to 12-9, and led by as many as four (15-11) during the set. When the 'Cats later clung to a 17-16 lead, a Molett kill made it a two-point margin.

Hobbs, though, kept battling back, tying it three different times — at 18, 19 and 20. A kill by Hobbs outside hitter Ayanna Smith then gave the Eagles their first lead since early in the set, and an ace by the Eagles' Norman made it 22-20.

Hobbs soon increased its lead to three, then went up 24-20 on another Smith kill. The Eagles closed it out with a kill by Jennings.

Clovis had been swept, but had made every set competitive.

"We're young, we're working," Chavez said. "I'm not blaming our losses on youth, but we're learning, we're learning so much."

Tuesday's match

The Lady Wildcats took their third match of the season against Carlsbad Tuesday night, but the match at Rock Staubus Gymnasium had the added caveat of a notch in the District 4-5A belt.

The Wildcats survived a tough first game, then rolled to a 27-25, 25-19, 25-16.

Clovis had topped Carlsbad (5-11, 0-1 as of Tuesday) twice already this season, winning in four sets at both the Moriarty Invtitaional and the Zia Classic in Roswell. Chavez didn't point to any particular reason the Wildcats came out with a sweep instead.

"We passed the ball a little better," she said, "and we served OK."

The Wildcats got a 13-kill night from Harkley, while Madison Flygare added eight and Molett seven. Brooklyn Hatley, Tabatha Gallegos and Harkley each had three aces, while Janelle Macias had 11 digs and Kameron Kelley doled out 32 assists.

Carlsbad coach Diamond Morrill felt her team fought throughout the night, but admitted losing the tight first set was a blow.

"Their middles played well," Morrill said. "They started doing their quick sets, and we weren't in the right places."