Santa Fe High beats Lady Cats in three sets

It certainly looked like Clovis High's volleyball team was about to pull even with Santa Fe High on Saturday at Rock Staubus Gymnasium, but the Lady Wildcats couldn't pull it off.

Trailing 20-15 in Game 2, the Lady Demons rallied with a strong finish to open a two-set lead en route to a 25-17, 25-22, 25-20 win in Clovis' season opener.

Junior Ava Evans' kill staked the Lady Cats to their five-point cushion, but just as quickly the Lady Demons (2-0) took it away with a set-ending 10-2 run.

Santa Fe High then took control in the third set with a 7-1 surge for a 17-8 lead and went on to close it out.

"We have to be offensive-minded," Clovis coach Cristy Hill said. "You have to be able to attack, and when you do good things will happen."

Senior middle blocker/outside hitter Zavia Burton and junior outside hitter Aleena Hubbard each collected eight kills for the Lady Demons.

"We're coming around," said first-year Santa Fe coach Adam Garcia, who spent the last four campaigns at Atrisco Heritage. "We tried finding the middles a little more today. It was nice to see my girls moving the ball around.

"If we move the ball around, it's harder to defend us. That was our goal today."

Junior outside hitter Ashlynn Evans led CHS with 13 kills, but no one else had more than five. Junior outside hitter/defensive specialist Sophie Roberts had two of the Lady Cats' five blocks.

"They hit the ball well," Hill said of the Lady Demons. "Our blocks were late. They're good; a lot of their kids have been playing together since they were like 12 years old."

Santa Fe trailed by a point three times early in the opening set, but went in front for good with a 4-0 run that included an ace from senior libero Lillianna Ocampo, eventually building a 12-point advantage. The second set was tight, but Clovis erased a two-point deficit with an 11-4 blitz that featured an ace and two blocks for points from Roberts.

Clovis returns to action on Friday in the two-day Moriarty Invitational. The 16-team event includes pool play and first-round bracket matches on Friday, with quarterfinal, semifinal and final-round tilts set for Saturday.