Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
TEXICO — For the time being, it appears the Melrose volleyball team may be playing a notch below its talent level.
After dispatching Texico 25-18, 25-18, 25-20 on Thursday night, the top-ranked, two-time defending Class 1A state champion Lady Buffs (11-0) improved to 5-0 in matches against Class 2A top-5 teams, beating second-ranked Santa Rosa twice and No. 3 Capitan, No. 4 Texico and No. 5 Eunice once apiece while also winning against Class 3A West Las Vegas.
They’ve only lost one set this fall — in their first meeting with Santa Rosa.
Melrose was in control most of the way.
“I think we really picked up our intensity,” said outside hitter Isabelle Sena, who helped Melrose finish it off with a strong third set and compiled a double-double with 11 kills and 10 digs. “Once we get going, we can really go on some runs.”
Sena had five of her kills in Game 3, including three in a row in one stretch. Junior outside hitter Graci Odom posted a team-high 13 kills to go with six digs, while sophomores Kambree Draper and Chantzee Elliott both had seven kills and junior setter Kye Ward also had a double-double with 12 digs and 34 assists.
A big part of the difference was that the Lady Buffs did an efficient job of pass, set, spike throughout the match, giving their hitters clean swings at potential kills.
“They’re athletic,” first-year Lady Wolverines coach Gabe Jones said of the Lady Buffs. “They know where they want to go with it, and they do a good job of getting it to their outsides (outside hitters).”
Texico (7-4) led for a while in the first set, but the Lady Buffs took the lead for good 6-5 on an ace by sophomore Chantzee Elliott and never looked back.
Sena said a possible state 3-peat is in the back of the Lady Buffs’ minds.
“It’s definitely scary,” she said. “We have lots of room to grow. Every year there’s a lot of pressure because you always feel like you have to be as good as the (previous) year.”
Melrose coach Casey Jackson, who has led the Lady Buffs to four titles and eight 1A state finals over his nine seasons at the helm, allowed that his squad played well overall.
“I thought we were solid, although we’re still ‘erroring’ too much for my liking,” he said. “We’re playing hard, but we’ve still got some things to clean up.”
Senior outside hitter/setter Catelyn Breshears had seven kills and senior middle hitter Emma Wallen collected six kills and two blocks for Texico.
“They’re a good team; they’re undefeated for a reason,” Jones said of Melrose. “I’d like to think we were competitive. A couple of plays here and there go our way, and it might have been (a) different (story).”
Texico was slated to host Portales on Saturday, then welcomes Lovington on Tuesday to complete a three-match homestand. Meantime, the Lady Buffs return to action on Tuesday at home against Grady in their District 6-1A opener.