Lady Cats looking to make progress during busy week

ROSWELL — It was a tough weekend for Clovis High’s volleyball team, but veteran coach Darrel Ray is hoping the Lady Wildcats can get back on track this week.

CHS went 4-6 in its six-team pool on Friday in the Zia Classic, then won the first set twice in bracket play before losing to Roswell High 23-25, 25-13, 25-14, 25-23 and to Los Lunas 23-25, 25-15, 25-17, 25-17.

Clovis (2-6) swept Miyamura and Hobbs in two-set pool matches, but similarly lost to Roswell Goddard, Mayfield and Los Alamos.

Ray said the Lady Cats dropped their two sets to Goddard 25-21 and 26-24, but noted that the Lady Rockets went on to win the tournament.

“We played Goddard as tough as anyone, and they just annihilated Mayfield in the finals,” he said. “I was pretty satisfied coming out of pool play, but if you can’t be consistent you’re going to get beat.”

Senior setter Ella Howalt represented CHS on the all-tournament team.

The Lady Cats have a busy week with four matches on tap, but all are winnable, Ray said. Clovis visited Lubbock Estacado on Tuesday in a rescheduled contest postponed from last week due to a scheduling conflict, then hosts Lovington on Thursday at The Rock before playing Saturday matches at Highland against the Hornets and Del Norte.

Cross country squads visit Lubbock — Clovis High put itself to the test on Saturday against a mostly-Texas field in the Lubbock Christian Invitational cross country meet.

The Wildcats were 17th out of 31 boys squads, while the Lady Cats notched 27th in a field of 38 teams.

“I thought (we) ran really good,” CHS cross country coach Liz Ledezma said. “I wanted us to get used to running in a bigger meet to try to get us ready for state.”

Sophomore Sammy Fuentes had the best finish of the day for Clovis, coming in 15th in the three-mile boys race in a time of 16 minutes, 45 seconds.

“He ran his first mile in five minutes,” Ledezma noted.

Meantime, eighth-grader Mai Nguy led a balanced girls squad, posting a two-mile time of 15:03.

Ledezma said it was the first time in her three years that all of her boys contestants came in under 20 minutes. Meantime, all six Lady Cats ran under 16 minutes and were separated by a total of 41 seconds.

On Saturday, Clovis will participate in the Carlsbad Invitational.