Lady Wolverines advance in 2A state volleyball

TEXICO - Never mind that the Texico Lady Wolverines have won six consecutive Class 2A state volleyball championships.

Senior outside hitter/setter Riley Rohrbach says the state tourney is a little different animal than the rest of the season.

The top-seeded Lady Wolverines fell behind early in Game 1 against No. 8 Estancia in Monday's 2A quarterfinal matchup, but recovered quickly and generally cruised en route to a 25-12, 25-10, 25-18 victory over the Lady Bears.

"I think there's always a little bit of nerves going into state," said Rohrbach, who finished with eight kills, one block, six digs and 11 assists. "Once we started playing our game, I thought we did a good job."

Meantime, senior outside hitter/setter Rachel Phipps had 12 kills, 10 digs, 10 assists and five aces for Texico.

Texico advances to a 5 p.m. semifinal matchup today at home against fifth-seeded Hagerman, which swept No. 4 seed Mescalero on Monday night. Semifinal winners meet for the state title at 11 a.m. on Friday at The Pit in Albuquerque.

Leading 7-6 in the first set, the Lady Wolverines got the serve back on an Estancia attack error. Then with Rorhbach at the service line, they went on a seven-point run to stretch their lead to nine.

Phipps opened the third game on the service line and got her team out to a 6-0 cushion, capped by an ace. Estancia (9-6) closed to within 10-8 before the Lady Wolverines pulled away.

Rohrbach said the players try to block out any pressure from such an impressive run of state titles.

"It's a big legacy," she said. "We try not to think about it too much. We just try and play it one game at a time, and make the people who came before us (in the program) proud."

Texico coach Kristen Scanlan said there's always room for improvement.

"I think we did some really good things, but we've got to clean up some of our unforced errors," she said. "I would imagine the girls were a little tight, but it's a nice thing to get some fans in the stands again."

Senior middle hitter/defensive specialist Samantha Hernandez collected seven kills and two blocks for Estancia.

Melrose 3, Pine Hill 0 - The Lady Buffs, defending Class 1A state runnersup but seeking a fourth title in seven years, had some trouble with eighth-seeded Pine Hill in Game 2 before closing out a 25-13, 27-25, 25-13 win in a match played at Moriarty H.S.

"They regrouped in that second set," Melrose coach Casey Jackson said of the Lady Warriors (5-4). "They got after it defensively, and we made a ton of errors in that set."

Freshman outside hitter Graci Odom had 11 kills and 12 digs for the Lady Buffs, while senior outside hitter/middle blocker Hailey Martin collected nine kills, 17 digs and five aces. Junior setter Johanna Roybal also posted a double-double with 12 digs and 13 assists.

Melrose (12-1) faces fifth-seeded Quemado in the semifinals today in another neutral-court matchup, scheduled for 3 p.m. at Mountainair H.S. The Lady Eagles (9-3) spanked fourth-seeded Animas in four sets on Monday.

Thursday's title matchup is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Thursday, also at The Pit.