CHS, PHS girls fall in first round of state tennis

May 11—ALBUQUERQUE — Clovis and Portales' girls had no luck in Wednesday's opening round of state tennis competition.

At Jerry Cline Tennis Center, the Lady Wildcats had one entry in singles and one in doubles in Class 5A, while the Lady Rams had a doubles entry in Class 1-4A at Albuquerque Academy.

For the Lady Cats, junior Hannah Lingala lost a 6-0, 6-0 decision to third-seeded senior Ellise Jay of Mayfield in singles. Jay advanced with a 6-2, 6-3 quarterfinal victory over La Cueva junior Varinn Sood, but she bowed out in the semifinals with a 6-1, 7-5 loss to La Cueva senior Cameron King.

In doubles, senior Hannah Heath and junior Madita Ewert were ousted in the opening round 6-3, 6-2 by Santa Fe High juniors Avah Trujillo and Erica Tian, who then lost in the quarterfinals 6-0, 6-3 to their Lady Demons teammates, sophomore Carmen Valentino and senior Yasmin Verastegui.

At Academy, the PHS tandem of senior Lorena Fernandez and sophomore Belia Lopez faced third-seeded sophomores Olivia Suazo and Kaydence Arrey of Espanola Valley and were handed a 6-4, 6-1 setback.

Suazo and Arrey posted 6-4, 6-3 win over Rhys Harvey and Hannah Kaufman of Santa Fe Prep. In Thursday morning's semifinals, they were ousted by junior Emiline Doscher and freshman Angela Norrod of Academy, who went on to take the championship with a 6-2, 6-3 triumph later in the day over senior Amanda Santistevan and sophomore Lindsey Williams of Deming.

Lady Cats second in district golf — Clovis High's girls finished second while the boys were third in Tuesday's District 4-5A golf tournament at New Mexico Military golf course in Roswell.

Carlsbad shot 347 for girls team honors while the Lady Wildcats came in at 380, followed by Hobbs at 396 and Roswell High at 436. Carlsbad's Isabella Smith was the individual medalist at 78.

Sophomore Kylie Sprinkle and senior Kayleigh Maldonado shot 45-45 — 90 for the Lady Cats, followed by sophomore Aahana Bhakta 50-48 — 98, freshman Ezra Chinikidiadi 52-50 — 102 and junior Jordan Archuleta 60-54 — 114.

Hobbs took boys team honors at 319, with Carlsbad at 335, the Wildcats at 348 and Roswell High at 360. The medalist was Roswell High's Owen Jones at 1-over-par 73.

Leading the way for the Cats was junior Jett Stone at 36-42 — 78, the fourth-best score of the day. Others included sophomore Gavin Anderson 43-45 — 88, senior Jacob Rowley 42-49 — 91, freshman Jakob Stone 50-41 — 91 and eighth-grader Zak Spearman 48-44 — 92.

CHS has qualified two individuals for state competition on Monday and Tuesday at Twin Warriors Golf Course in Bernalillo in Stone and Sprinkle. Meantime, Portales High's girls are sending seniors Paige Yazzie and Cydnee Massey and junior Adrienne Ruiz to the Class 4A state meet at Santa Ana Golf Course in Albuquerque.

In Class 1-3A, Texico's girls qualified their team for state competition at the New Mexico Tech golf course in Socorro, while Clovis Christian is sending senior Noah McKay and freshman Brock Teune for the boys and senior Kaprix Foote and sophomore Lauren Weaver for the girls.