Clovis volleyball team reaches district semifinal

CLOVIS — A glance at the overall score — a sweep for Clovis High's volleyball team over Carlsbad — might make it seem that the Lady Wildcats had an easy time of beating the Cavegirls in Tuesday's District 4-5A opening-round match at Rock Staubus Gymnasium.

Not quite. Yes, Clovis did win 3-0 and advanced to play at Hobbs in the district semifinals Thursday night. But the Lady 'Cats had to rally in each of the first two sets before finding their rhythm, taking control.

Clovis wound up posting 25-19, 25-23, 25-18 set scores to earn that semifinal berth against the Lady Eagles.

"I think we'll have a shot," Clovis head coach Ruth Chavez said of Thursday's showdown. "I think that we're going to have to play a great game because they're a very good team. But I think as long as we can keep our errors low, we can be in that ballgame with them."

"I think that we could beat them if we keep playing strong," Clovis senior middle blocker Maddison Flygare said after recording a team-high 12 kills, including the match-clincher.

It was Carlsbad jumping ahead early, though, taking a 2-0 advantage in the opening set. The Lady Wildcats, in fact, didn't take their first lead until 10-9.

There were nine different ties in the first set, 17 different one-point leads. The ninth tie was followed by the 17th one-point advantage when a good volley ended with Carlsbad hitting into the net to put Clovis up 17-16.

The Lady Wildcats finally took their first two-point lead of the night, starting with an Antanishwa Molett serve and ending with a Mikyla Harkley kill. A Kameron Kelley kill gave the Lady Wildcats a 19-16 edge, and they led 21-16 before Carlsbad finally won another point.

After Carlsbad won its last point, the score was 23-19. But Clovis won the next two and grabbed a 1-0 set lead.

Carlsbad won the first point of the next set, which proved to be another close one. The set didn't see its first two-point advantage until Clovis went up 9-7. The Lady Wildcats never led by more than three in the set, and that margin was rare. There were 21 one-point differences, 16 ties.

Holding one of those one-point differences, 23-22, Clovis advanced to set point on a Tabatha Gallegos ace. Carlsbad won the next point, but hit into the net on the point after, handing Clovis a 25-23 victory and a 2-0 set lead.

It was a hard-earned 2-0 lead, though.

"I think it was our own errors," Flygare said. "Once we started to play like we know how to play, our game improved."

"I thought we let it go back and forth too much, just trying to get on a run," Chavez said. "But we got control. I felt like we won the passing and the serving games tonight. We served well, we passed well, and we were able to run more offense than they were tonight."

The third set was a bit different than the previous two, as Clovis jumped out to 3-0 and 7-1 leads. Carlsbad managed to close to within a point, 8-7, but Clovis won the next three points — the third a Janelle Macias ace — and the Cavegirls never drew closer than two points again. At one of those two-point junctures (16-14), a Kelley kill put the Lady Wildcats up by three and started a run of four straight points won by them.

They were on their way to a 25-18 victory and the sweep, punctuated when Flygare pounded the match-ending kill. Clovis had seemed to play with much more confidence in the third set.

"We just adjusted a few little things," Chavez said, "and they did their assignments, the things they're supposed to do, well. So if they're in the spots they're supposed to be, they'll play well."

Flygare had a block to go with her 12 kills. Harkley and Kelley had seven kills apiece, Molett six kills, Brooklyn Hatley five and Gallegos four.

Harkley and Megan Emerich recorded three aces each, Macias and Gallegos two each, Kelley one.

Kelley had 11 of the Lady Wildcats' 42 digs, followed by Camryn Barros with eight, Macias with six, Harkley and Emerich with five apiece, Molett with four, Gallegos two and Hatley one.

Gallegos notched a team-best 18 assists, with Kelley adding 14 assists.