Rams, Buffs pull sweeps

TEXICO — Another match, another sweep for the Portales volleyball team.

The Lady Rams did it again Saturday afternoon, sweeping past Texico 25-22, 25-20, 25-19, for their 13th straight victory.

Despite the loss, Texico’s Riley Rohrbach had 10 assists and two aces. Macki Bilbrey added 14 digs for the Lady Wolverines.

Portales (13-1) will begin its District 4-4A slate next Tuesday, hosting Goddard at 6:30 p.m.

Texico carried a 6-6 record into Tuesday night’s road match at Lovington. The Lady Wolverines visit Clayton on Thursday.

Lady Buffalo stampede

MELROSE — Thanks to last Thursday’s torrential downpours, it was not a fit night out for man nor beast.

But since the Melrose volleyball players are neither, it was an OK night. Especially after the Lady Buffaloes rallied from an early deficit to sweep Texico, 26-24, 25-20, 25-15 at Melrose High School.

Trailing by five in the first set, Melrose battled back.

The Lady Buffs prevailed in a close second set, then won more comfortably in the third. They improved to 11-0 by getting steadily better throughout the match.

“Yeah we started slow, had to come back in the first set,” Melrose head coach Casey Jackson said. “But really started rolling there in the second, played pretty well and got momentum going in the third. So I felt like we progressed as the match went on.”

Jackson credited Texico for making the Lady Buffaloes work hard all night.

“They definitely had a game plan coming in, got us out of our system early,” Jackson said. “But we kept battling. That’s the key for us; we just keep at it.”

Melrose’s Nataley Mondragon had 16 kills, five blocks and 22 digs.

“Everyone played solid,” Jackson said, “but she played really well.”

Brette DeVaney added 30 digs and 10 kills for the Lady Buffaloes.

Hailey Martin had five blocks and seven kills for Melrose.

Deajha Downey and Anjalina Sanchez contributed seven kills apiece.

Ashley Hill had 11 kills for Texico, while Riley Rohrbach had 11 assists. Sydnee Muse added six kills and six digs.