Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
CLOVIS — Clovis High’s volleyball team got itself back in the District 4-5A race on Thursday night.
The Lady Wildcats, who dropped their district opener at home to Carlsbad two nights earlier, were solid most of the way through in dispatching Hobbs 25-20, 25-21, 24-26, 25-19 at Rock Staubus Gym.
Clovis led the entire first set and most of the way in the final three in leaving both itself and the Lady Eagles at 10-9 overall and 1-1 in district play — one game behind Carlsbad, which swept Roswell High on Thursday night.
“I’d just say we played well for four sets,” CHS assistant coach Carissa Grummer said. “We never got down on ourselves.”
Junior outside hitter Kailyn Jefferson had 11 kills for the Lady Cats, who scored the match’s first five points to force Hobbs into a quick timeout.
“It was so exciting,” said CHS senior setter Ella Howalt, who posted 16 assists. “I think this was one of my better games. I felt like a lot of my sets were on target.”
The rivalry has gone back and forth. From 2015-21, Hobbs went 13-5 against the Lady Cats while in the eight years prior to that, it was all Clovis (19-2).
“I think our passing was really on tonight,” Howalt said. “We really, really want to win district.”
Hobbs made runs at times in each set, but the Lady Eagles never had a lead of more than three points the entire night.
“Clovis played real well tonight,” Hobbs coach Stacy Williams said. “They served tough and they passed well. Clovis won the pass-and-serve game, and they just beat us.”
Hobbs was plagued throughout the match by service errors — 17 in all. Meantime, the Lady Cats put a lot of their serves in difficult positions for the Lady Eagles to play.
“We missed a lot fewer serves than they did,” Grummer said.
Sophomore middle blocker Jayla David had 10 kills for Hobbs, while athletic senior outside hitter Wisdom Anthony was a bit inconsistent but still added nine kills and four aces.
“We struggled passing and serving,” Williams said. “It was a great night for Clovis, and we’ve got to get better.”
Tuesday night, the Lady Cats return to action with a district match at Roswell High.
Carlsbad 3, Clovis 1 (Tuesday) — After getting off to a solid start, the Lady Cats had no answers for Carlsbad senior outside hitter Gracie Eckles and dropped a 20-25, 26-24, 25-18, 25-16 decision to the Cavegirls (8-10, 2-0) at The Rock.
“We played about as well as we could in Game 1, and for the most part in Game 2,” CHS coach Darrel Ray said. “They’re a big team, and better than their record.”
After pulling out a tight second set, the Cavegirls got out quickly in Game 3 and were in control from there. They were led by the 6-foot Eckles, who reportedly is headed to the University of Tulsa to play volleyball.
“We made a few mistakes, and Gracie took over,” Ray said. “(The match) kind of got away from us.
“We knew it would be Gracie against us. The plan was that when she got in the back row, we’d try to beat the other three rotations.”
Junior outside hitter Aeryanne Conn notched a double-double for Clovis with 13 kills and 11 digs, and she also posted five aces. Jefferson added 12 kills, Howalt collected 22 assists and junior outside hitter/setter Erin Creasy combined six kills and 13 assists.
