CHS girls notch wins at NMMI

ROSWELL — Clovis High’s tennis girls opened the season with a pair of victories on Saturday in a three-way invitational hosted by New Mexico Military, beating the host Lady Colts 6-3 and Roswell Goddard 7-2.

Meantime, the CHS boys were defeated by NMMI 9-0 and edged by Goddard 5-4.

The Lady Wildcats pulled out three-set wins against NMMI with sophomore Niliyaah Hall at No. 5 singles and the tandem of junior Ayia Alsaleh and senior Alex Gonzales at No. 2 doubles. Meantime, Goddard came in a bit shorthanded and had to forfeit to Clovis at No. 6 singles and No. 3 doubles.

“I was very proud of these girls,” Lady Cats coach Jeannette Albin said. “It was their first time out. It was an endurance test because we played back to back.”

NMMI and Goddard faced off in the opening dual, followed by CHS/NMMI and CHS/Goddard.

In boys competition, the Wildcats managed to get one set off NMMI, with sophomore Gerald Gonzales and freshman Topher Oaks winning a first-set tie-breaker at No. 3 doubles against Colts junior Daniel Cardoso and freshman Ricardo Puebla. All three doubles were fairly competitive, as well as a No. 2 singles match in which NMMi’s Joseph Lipets defeated CHS sophomore David Case 6-4, 6-2.

Meantime, Goddard took the Nos. 3-6 singles matches and posted a win at No. 2 doubles to outlast the Cats.

“We had several new guys who were playing for the first time,” CHS boys coach Brad Heath said. “Hopefully, we’ll just keep getting better.”

Clovis returned to action with a “Texas-style dual” against rival Hobbs on Tuesday afternoon at the CHS courts. The match included six singles and three doubles for both boys and girls, plus one mixed doubles match, all to be combined into one team score.

Rams, Eagles open golf season — Freshman Bode Bratcher shot a 79 on Monday, helping Clovis Christian’s boys to a third-place finish in a season-opening golf tourney hosted by Artesia.

Hobbs and Lovington tied for first place at 298, followed by the Eagles (336), Artesia (360) and Carlsbad (384).

Several schools, including Portales, did not have full squads for the meet.

Freshman Kelen Owensby of Hobbs was the individual medalist with a round of 2-under-par 70.

Other scores for the Eagles included senior Tyler Lingnau at 81, sophomore Carter Teune at 82, freshman Noah McKay at 86 and senior Dawson Teune at 94.

For the Rams, senior Nathan Cota shot 76, senior Valon Low 90 and senior Baylor Diaz 113.

PHS returns to action on Thursday in a meet at Ruidoso, starting at 9 a.m. The next outing for CCS is next Wednesday in a tournament at Lovington.