Fort Sumner prevails over young San Jon squad

SAN JON - Fort Sumner's volleyball squad made sure Thursday that San Jon remained in the bottom of the district standings, but both teams' records are deceiving.

The Foxes prevailed 25-15, 25-13, 25-15 over a young Coyotes team to improve to a respectable 5-3 record overall but just 1-3 in District 6.

That's because Fort Sumner's district is widely acknowledged as the toughest small-school schedule in the state. District 6 traditionally sends three and sometimes four teams to the state tournament, and Melrose and Logan in recent years have played each other for the Class 1A championship.

In any other district, Fort Sumner would probably be a contender, and San Jon - in its first season after ending a sports cooperative with Grady - probably would be middling instead of 0-6 overall.

San Jon coach Jaree Elliott reluctantly acknowledged her team was at a disadvantage compared to many other small-school squads in New Mexico.

"At the end of the day, it's an excuse," she said. "But we watch other teams in other districts: 'Man, if we could only be in that district, it'd be a little different story.'

"Every game, they've grown. Tonight, we've hit a lot better than we've ever hit. But youth is just hard to overcome."

Elliott said her team had its best performance of the season Thursday.

"Today is by far the most teamwork we've had," she said. "We've gelled a bit today. I told them last week we weren't even doing back-row attacks. We've adjusted our blocks; we had a lot more blocks than the first time we played them."

Foxes coach Shonna Spitz, who acknowledged her team also struggled with inexperience a season or two ago, noticed San Jon's potential.

"They're scrappy," she said. "They're a good little team right there."

Bailey Montoya and Karlee Elliott each had six kills for San Jon. Nataya Archuleta totaled 10 assists.

Elliott said inconsistency - a typical problem with a young team - has proved the biggest obstacle to overcome.

"Every time the other team gets the serve, we seem to give up three to seven unforced errors," she said. "That's a big deficit to get out of every time."

Elliott said her two seniors - Archuleta and Montoya - have proved valuable to her team's growth.

"I'm excited we have seniors who aren't discouraging to our youth, and I'm excited for what the future holds," she said.

Fort Sumner 3, Logan 2

Logan suffered a likely fatal blow to its chances to tie for a district title with a 22-25, 25-15, 23-25, 25-23, 10-15 defeat Saturday at Fort Sumner.

Logan fell to 5-3 overall and 4-3 in district play. Fort Sumner improved to 6-3, 2-3.

First-place Melrose (8-1, 7-0) would need to lose all three of its matches this week to fall into a tie.

Reece Goldston led the Lady Longhorns with 19 kills and 23 assists. Kambry Burns added 11 kills and six blocks. Rilee Nials added 10 kills and 30 assists. Kyra Conway made 46 digs.

Harming Logan's chances for a victory Saturday was 20 service errors, coach Robert Young said.

He said the match was "back and forth ... lots of long, competitive rallies. Both teams played good defense."

Logan 3, Grady 1

Logan kept its slim hopes alive for a district title with a 20-25, 25-20, 25-15, 25-19 victory Thursday at Grady.

"We really had to raise our level of play throughout the match," Young said. "Grady is a very good defensive team, with one of the top hitters in the state (Teryn Foote). I thought our defensive specialists/libero play enabled us to set up our offense effectively in the last three sets. I also was impressed with our team's energy off the bench."

Burns led the Lady Longhorns with 11 kills and four blocks. Goldston added 22 assists and nine kills. Nials totaled nine kills and 20 assists. Conway made 28 digs.

The Lady Longhorns improved 5-2 overall and 4-2 in District 6.

Grady fell to 2-4 overall, all of them district games.

Clovis Christian 3, San Jon 0

Clovis Christian, the district's worst team two seasons ago, vaulted into a second-place tie in the standings with a 25-18, 25-12, 26-24 win Saturday.

The host Eagles improved to 6-3 overall and 4-3 in the district, tied with Logan.

San Jon fell to 0-7, 0-5.

Karlee Elliott led the Coyotes with eight kills. Montoya added five kills and eight digs. Nataya Archuleta totaled four aces and eight assists, and Sarah Archuleta added 10 assists.

"We had the roughest serving night we've had all season," San Jon coach Jaree Elliott said.