Chargers top Lady Rams in finals

MORIARTY – Portales High’s volleyball team made a strong run to the finals on Saturday in the 16-team Moriarty Invitational, but in the end the Lady Rams came up short.

Albuquerque Academy claimed the championship, outlasting Portales 25-23, 25-18, 25-22 in the title tilt.

The Lady Rams went 4-2 to finish second in their four-team pool on Friday, then whipped Sandia Prep 25-9, 25-16, 25-22 in Friday’s quarterfinal round before topped Valencia 19-25, 25-19, 25-23, 25-19 in Saturday morning’s semifinals.

Texico earned fifth place in the tournament while Clovis High came in ninth.

PHS volleyball coach Bailey Greenwalt said after the event that the experience was a good one for her squad.

“Overall, we got to see a lot of good things,” she said. “We’d like to have done things differently (against Academy), but we can get there. It just wasn’t there today.”

Junior Skyler Massey posted eight kills and two aces in the championship loss to the Chargers (4-1). Senior Angel Ornelas led the team with 18 digs, senior Tya Rippee had 14 digs and a pair of aces, junior Molly Ainsworth compiled three blocks and senior Myleigh Banda had 24 assists.

In Friday’s rout of Sandia Prep, Massey had 14 kills, three blocks and five aces, Ornelas finished with 16 digs and two aces and senior Dawci Cordova recorded 14 digs and a team-best six aces, while Banda had 32 assists.

Against Valencia (3-2), Massey had 18 kills, 17 digs and three blocks, Ainsworth posted 16 kills and five blocks and Banda notched a double-double with 17 digs and 50 assists. Ornelas led the team with 24 digs while Rippee added 10.

Clovis (3-1) finished third in its pool at 2-4, but came back in the consolation bracket to beat Thoreau 25-17, 25-20, 25-19 on Friday and Carlsbad (3-3) 25-10, 25-20, 25-19 and Tularosa 25-18, 26-24. 25-13 on Saturday.

“I think we played pretty good as a team,” Lady Cats coach Cristy Hill said. “I thought our energy was good.

“I thought we passed the ball lights-out against Carlsbad, but I think we had a little bit of a letdown against Tularosa; they’re not as big.”

Senior outside hitter Ashlynn Evans compiled 52 kills in the three matches, including 26 against Tularosa. Against Thoreau, senior libero/defensive specialist Jecenia Jimenez had 14 digs and senior setter Amanda De La Rosa compiled 19 assists.

Junior setter/outside hitter Brynn Petner put together a stat line of seven kills, six digs and five aces against Carlsbad, while De La Rosa had 21 assists and four digs and senior middle hitter Brooke Renteria posted four blocks.

Evans added five blocks and 12 digs to her ledger against Tularosa, while Jimenez compiled 14 digs and De La Rosa added 18 assists in the match.

Texico (4-1), the defending Class 2A champion, couldn’t overcome Academy in Friday’s quarterfinal round. Junior outside hitter Kinzee Crow had 12 kills, 14 digs and three aces for the Lady Wolverines, while senior Abby Haakma led four Texico players in double digs in digs with 16.

In Saturday’s semifinals, Crow had seven kills, 10 digs and two aces while senior Aspyn Furrow posted seven kills, nine digs and 17 assists. Against Cobre, Crow tallied 13 kills and 11 digs while Furrow had 10 kills, 16 digs and 18 assists.

Clovis, which hosted defending Class 1A state champion Melrose on Tuesday night, is off until next Tuesday when it visits Roswell Goddard. Portales, which visited Roswell High on Tuesday night, returns to action next Tuesday at home against the Lady Coyotes.

Meantime, Texico is slated to host Logan at 7 p.m. on Thursday.