Tennis teams prep for state

PORTALES - There are few guarantees in life, and not many more when it comes to prep tennis seeding.

Still, the Portales girls tennis team has likely sealed its invite to the Class 1A-4A state tennis team tournament following a 5-3 win Friday over Lovington at the Bill Wahlman Tennis Center.

The Rams move on to the District 4-4A championship Tuesday at Goddard. A win would give Portales an automatic spot in the 12-team bracket, but Portales coach Ann-Marie Bucksath is optimistic the team will get a seed even if it finishes as runnerup in 4-4A.

"Usually the top two teams go in," Bucksath said, "so we have a really good shot. But there are five districts now, so we'll have to see."

District tournament duals, ironically, are much less formal affairs than regular season matchups. For most of the season, teams play nine matches - six singles, three doubles - no matter what, with every score recorded and reported online for each dual. For the tournament, the only information required is who won each match, and the dual can be ended as soon as one team has five wins.

Portales and Lovington split their six singles matches - Kinsey Bilberry, Danielle Ruiz and Vanessa Lucero took victories. No official scores were recorded, because the coaches were only required to turn in wins or losses to the NMAA for the district tournament matches.

The match was decided by doubles flights, and ended after Portales won the first two. Bilberry and Ruiz defeated Fernanda de Dios and Yvette Peters, while Mikaela Garza and Lucero defeated Perla Gonzales and Maleia Caudillo. The No. 2 doubles match, with Laura Blaeser and Taryn Wood facing Cristal Estrada and Kimberly Villasenior was stopped after Portales secured the fifth win.

The doubles matches were somewhat delayed due to a lengthy No. 2 doubles match between Blaeser and Peters, and a desire by both coaches to give their players some rest after the two-hour match. The center has five courts, and the No. 1 and No. 6 singles matches both concluded on Court 1 before Peters and Blaeser finished.

"They just battled," Portales coach Ann-Marie Bucksath said. "They went back and forth, had some really long rallies, went to deuce a few times. It was a really good match."

The Ram boys, who had an easy time Monday against Goddard, had the tables turned Thursday at Lovington in a 6-0 loss. Bucksath said most of the matches were sweeps, with Pancho Lopez taking his No. 1 singles match to three sets.

"They're a powerhouse," Bucksath said of Lovington. "We played well, but they're just good."

After Tuesday's girls match, Portales is idle until Saturday when the district heads to Lovington for the district championships for individual doubles and singles.

Clovis splits against Roswell

The Clovis boys took a 5-3 victory Friday against Roswell Friday at New Mexico Military Institute, whie the girls dropped a 6-3 decision ot the Coyotes.

Some of the matches were halted early due to rain, with the wins defaulted to the singles player or doubles team ahead at the time.

The Clovis boys took four of the five singles matches played, with David Heath, Sumito Richeson, Grant Palla and Cade Jones getting wins. In doubles, Heath and Palla rallied for a three-set win in No. 1 singles, and Richeson and Brandon Heath took No. 2 doubles in straight sets.

The girls got a pair of singles victories from Ayia Alsaleh in No. 5 and Alexandria Gonzales in No. 6. Alsaleh and Niliyaah Hall won No. 3 doubles, topping Roswell's Elany Marquez and Elsie Geddie.

Clovis heads to Carlsbad Friday for District 4-5A's individual singles and doubles championships.