Lady Cats end losing streak

Saddled with a five-match losing streak, Clovis High's volleyball team looked as if that might be about to be extended on Thursday night.

The Lady Wildcats bailed out the first two sets, then finally pulled away late in Game 3 for a 25-23, 25-23, 25-16 victory over Lovington at Rock Staubus Gym.

Senior outside hitter Kailyn Jefferson delivered 13 kills for the Lady Wildcats (10-7) while senior middle hitter Elizabeth Warwick came alive in the third set and finished with seven kills and five aces.

District 4-5A play is all that remains of the regular season, beginning Tuesday night at Carlsbad.

"We didn't play very good," CHS coach Cristy Hill said. "We kind of rested Kailyn a little bit. It seemed like we had a little more balance today."

Clovis trailed 21-18 in the first set, but finished on a 6-2 run capped by an ace from Warwick. Then the Lady Cats were down 18-10 in Game 2 when a tip-kill by Jefferson sent them on a 15-5 run to make it 2-0.

With junior defensive specialist Jori Mondragon on the service line, the Lady Cats ran off five points in a row – including two kills by junior middle blocker Brooke Renteria. Back-to-back aces by Jefferson tied the set 22-22, and a kill by Warwick and two Lovington hitting errors ended it.

Lovington (3-12), losing for the third time this season to the Lady Cats, still led much of the early portion of Game 3. Then Warwick, who transferred to CHS from Clovis Christian before her junior year, stepped to the service line and gave Clovis a 13-12 lead with the first of three aces for her in that rotation.

By the time Lovington got a side-out, Clovis was in front 17-13.

Warwick finished with seven kills and five aces in the match.

"I think it was just a long process," she said of trying to get a handle on the match. We go in and lose a point, and then we have to get our energy back."

Last year, she was relegated to the junior varsity squad. This year, she's become a major contributor.

"It was a big adjustment," she said of the move up from the Class 1A level. "The more the competition, the better I get."

Lovington gives up height against most teams, but has a good player in 5-foot-8 junior outside hitter Carlie Greebon, who had a team-best seven kills.

"We had our opportunities and didn't finish," said coach Rachel Faith, the daughter-in-law of longtime Lovington football coach Speedy Faith. "We do the best we can with what we have. I felt like everybody did some good things tonight."

Both Warwick and Hill said the Lady Cats will have to raise their level of play in district competition.

"We have the skill level to beat these teams," Warwick said. "We have to have the mental ability to do it."

It was good to at least put an end to the losing streak before district play starts.

"Mentally, we're just struggling with confidence," Hill said. "We're so worried about making mistakes, and whenever you do that is when you make mistakes."

Cross country teams win at Hobbs – Juniors Sammy Fuentes and Gabrielle Foggie posted individual wins to lead Clovis High's cross country teams to titles in Thursday's Bob Jackson Invitational, hosted by Hobbs.

On the boys' side, the Wildcats finished with 31 points and claimed five of the top nine spots to beat out Lovington (46) and the Eagles (49). Fuentes posted a three-mile time of 16 minutes, 45 seconds to finish more than a minute ahead of Hobbs' Simon Vasquez.

Other Clovis finishes included juniors Victor Sanchez, sixth in 19:23, and Rudy Ledezma, seventh in 19:28; eighth-graders Adrian Surita, eighth in 19:37, and Erik Cordum, ninth in 19:38, and eighth-graders Ryder Bonney, 13th in 20:56, and Marques Lippman, 15th in 21:31.

Foggie posted a time of 21:20 for the Lady Cats, who took seven of the top 10 places and finished with 16 points to 46 for Hobbs.

Behind her were eighth-grader Rosalia Morales, second in 22:18; freshman Brooke Newcomer, third in 22:41; sophomore Jarelly Navarrete, fourth in 22:48; sophomore Joselyn Foggie, sixth in 23:12; eighth-grader Christina Waltrip, seventh in 23:30, and eighth-grader Jelena Maldonado, 10th in 24:25.

Clovis' next outing is on Saturday in the Albuquerque Extravaganza.