Lady Rams rally past Texico for fifth in meet

MORIARTY — Portales High overcame a five-point deficit late in Game 4 and rallied past Texico 18-25, 13-25, 25-10, 27-25, 15-11 on Saturday in the fifth-place match of a 16-team invitational hosted by Moriarty H.S.

The teams were divided into four, four-team pools on Friday, with the top two in each advancing to the Gold Bracket and the bottom two in each to the Silver Bracket.

The Lady Rams and Lady Wolverines were both 4-2 in games to finish second in their respective pools. Meantime, Clovis High went 2-4 in pool play to go into the Silver Bracket, where the Lady Wildcats finished 14th.

In Friday’s Gold Bracket quarterfinals, Portales lost to St. Michael’s 25-20, 25-14, 25-20 while Texico dropped a 25-19, 25-20, 19-25, 18-25, 15-12 decision to Bosque. In Saturday’s consolation semifinals, the Lady Rams (3-2) swept Carlsbad 25-21, 25-17, 25-18 and Texico (2-2) edged Manzano 23-25, 25-14, 17-25, 26-24, 15-12.

In the finale, Texico rolled in the first two sets and had the Lady Rams down 20-15 in the fourth before Portales rallied back.

“We were definitely in every match,” Lady Wolverines coach Gabe Jones said. “If you’d told us we’d go 4-2 in pool play and go five (sets) in (every match of) the Gold Bracket, I would’ve been happy.

“It was a valuable lesson for our girls, and hopefully something we’ll be able to use and learn from.”

Senior outside hitter/setter Catelyn Breshears had a triple-double against Portales with 15 kills, 11 digs and 15 assists. Meantime, junior Olivia Low compiled 10 kills and four blocks for the Lady Rams, while senior Maebri Knox had 34 set assists.

“It was nice to see a different mix of teams and play that much volleyball,” Lady Rams coach and former Moriarty assistant Jacki Bailey said. “We definitely made some adjustments as we went; we’re trying to see where everybody fits in.”

Meantime, it was a rough weekend for the Lady Cats (2-4). They won their Silver Bracket quarterfinal match against Valencia 25-13, 28-26, 25-17 before losing to Pojoaque 25-18, 25-15, 25-23 and to Moriarty 25-23, 25-23, 25-17.

“We looked good at times, but we couldn’t sustain it,” CHS coach Darrel Ray said. “We were so inconsistent.

“It was really kind of a disappointing weekend. We’ve just got to hope we can flip a page and start to play better.”

Clovis was slated to visit Lubbock Estacado on Tuesday before playing in the Zia Classic in Roswell this weekend. Meantime, PHS entertained Roswell High on Tuesday and doesn’t return to action until welcoming Ruidoso next Tuesday.

Texico’s next outing is at home on Thursday against Logan.