Rams top Artesia to reach 4-4A title game

PORTALES — It wasn’t exactly splitting the atom. Yet Thursday’s breakthrough might have been even bigger for the Portales volleyball team.

After coming close and coming up short twice this season, the Lady Rams finally solved a fifth-set challenge against Artesia, and at the perfect time too. Thursday, hosting the Lady Bulldogs in the District 4-4A semifinal, Portales edged Artesia 3-2, with scores of 25-21, 24-26, 19-25, 25-19, 15-13.

Eureka. After a pair of 3-2 regular-season losses to Artesia — away on Oct. 22 and home Nov. 2 — the Lady Rams finally stormed into a fifth set and stormed out of it as the victor against Artesia. And that propelled the Rams into Saturday night’s district final at Goddard High in Roswell, played too late for this edition. However their district run ended, the Lady Rams have proven what they kind of already knew but hadn’t made official on the court before Thursday — that they could beat Artesia in a five-set squeaker, that they could outlast the Lady Bulldogs.

“I think this time we were more determined and we knew we needed to pull this one out, or else it wasn’t going to be a good outlook for us going into the state tournament,” Portales senior outside hitter Aaliyah Austin said after recording a team-high 24 digs and 13 kills. “I feel like this time we really practiced hard and we went at it every day to get that win that we got tonight.”

“I think sometimes it’s just luck or the bounce of a ball,” Portales head coach Charity Gomez said. “Sometimes it’s just you’re receiving it well and have the right attackers up. I think when they’re that close it’s just kind of the luck of the bounce, or who we have in the front row in that particular rotation. Sometimes you’re just lucky, sometimes you’re not.”

“The fifth, it could’ve gone either way; that’s the way the other (matches) happened,” Goddard head coach Alan Williams said. “The ball happened to roll their way in the fifth set this time.”

All five of Thursday’s sets were close, decided by no more than six points and as little as two. After the Lady Rams won the opener 25-21, they also had a good chance at winning the second set, which was tied 24-all at one point. Artesia, though, won the last two points — on a Rams return out and another return into the net — and tied the match at one set apiece.

Portales led the third set 1-0 on a Kylyie Paden kill, but never led the set again. It was tied 11-11 — a stalemate forged by the Lady Rams after they had been down 10-4 – but the Lady Bulldogs went on to win the set 25-19, putting themselves up 2-1 in the match.

Portales was one losing set away from having its district run ended.

“It was a little scary,” Austin said, “but I feel like my teammates and I push each other and we come together as one, and that helps us a lot when we’re down.”

The fourth set was tight for a while, locked in a 13-all tie at one point. The Lady Rams won four straight points and 11 of the next 15 to take a 24-17 lead, and though a kill by Artesia’s Makinli Taylor kept her team afloat, a Lady Bulldogs serve into the net handed the set to Portales, 25-19.

Time for the fifth set, the tiebreaker. Artesia led steadily — 1-0, 3-1, 5-3, 7-5 — before Portales came back and won three straight points to take its first lead of the set, 8-7. Artesia won the next three points to go ahead 10-8, but then it was the Lady Rams’ turn to win three in a row, and they went up 11-10.

A Portales serve out tied it at 11, and an Austin kill gave the Rams a 12-11 edge, before a kill by Artesia’s Kaylee Wagner tied it at 12.

Portales then won two straight points – the second coming from another Austin kill – to move a point away from victory. Another Wagner kill brought Artesia within 14-13, but a block and kill by Jordan Gomez finished it off for Portales.

The Lady Rams had done it, they had survived a gut-wrenching fifth set and rallied to do so.

“It was fun. I think it was more fun than anything,” Austin said of the climactic set. “I think we came out strong and really put it together.”

Paden added 12 kills for Portales, with Adrianna Garcia contributing 10 kills and two aces. Teagan Faust had 23 digs for the Lady Rams, who had improved to 18-4 as Saturday’s district championship loomed.

They had also given themselves momentum for the upcoming state tournament.

“This should give them that boost, a little bit of confidence, because I think their confidence was a little down after losing two back-to-back in five,” Coach Gomez said. “So I really feel like this confidence will give them a push going into next week.”

“I think it’s going to give us a lot of confidence,” Austin said. “I think that this win was a big win for us, and when we go (to states) we’re going to play games like this more often in the state tournament, so I feel like that’s going to get us ready for it.”

And for Artesia, who also came away from Thursday’s action at 18-4 but with a district semifinal loss, the wait for a state invitation had begun.

“You never know what the state’s going to decide,” Williams said. “You never want to leave it in their hands, but that’s the way it is.”