No. 1 Lady Demons eliminate Clovis

SANTA FE — Clovis High’s girls gave Santa Fe High a decent run for its money in Tuesday’s Class 5A state volleyball quarterfinals.

In the end, the Lady Demons showed why they earned the No. 1 seed in the eight-team field.

Santa Fe broke away in the fourth set to nail down a 25-17, 26-24, 21-25, 25-15 win over the eighth-seeded Lady Wildcats. On Thursday, the Lady Demons (10-1) knocked out fifth-seeded Rio Rancho Cleveland in three sets to advance to Saturday’s title match at The Pit in Albuquerque, where they faced No. 2 seed Centennial.

“We started a little slowly, but that was kind of to be expected,” CHS coach Darrel Ray said of the 3 1/2-hour bus ride.

The Lady Cats (8-5) bounced back and had a chance to win the second set, which might have put some pressure on Santa Fe.

“We should’ve won Game 2,” Ray said. “We got to 24 first and then we had a couple of errors. That would’ve been a turning point if we could’ve won that one.”

After locking down the third set, the Lady Cats ran out of steam a bit in the fourth.

“Until Game 4, we really passed well,” Ray said. “In Game 4, they probably got about four points off their blocking.”

Senior middle hitter Kaci Cabeldue had 13 kills and three blocks for CHS, while senior defensive specialist Tabitha Gallegos nearly had a triple-double with nine kills, 11 digs and 16 assists. Senior outside-hitter/setter Kameron Kelley also had a double-double, compiling six kills to go with 11 digs and 22 assists.