Lady Rattlers win district

Tucumcari's volleyball team captured another district championship with a 25-19, 25-17, 25-23 victory Saturday over Raton during an often-emotional final home match for THS this season, especially its seniors.

The Lady Rattlers (17-4 overall, 8-0 in district) won their second straight district title and third in four years. Tucumcari has won eight in a row and is ranked fourth in Class 2A by MaxPreps.com.

Sophomore Cambree Benavidez's match-high 14 kills paced a THS attack that totaled 39 kills to Raton's 28. Senior July Lafferty added eight kills and junior Kyla Lopez six.

Tucumcari still has two district matches remaining at Estancia and at Clayton, but even in the unlikely event of THS losing both, the Lady Rattlers still would have won the championship because they swept runner-up Santa Rosa.

Before the match, Tucumcari honored five senior players - Caylee Benavidez, July Lafferty, Aliyah Marez, Nevaeh Montoya and Jaqueline Rodriguez - plus manager Hannah Bradfield and their parents.

Several players wiped away tears during the tributes, and the home crowd gave them a standing ovation after the ceremony.

THS coach Dana Benavidez admitted the players' churning emotions probably led to sluggish periods against Raton.

"It's emotional for them," she said. "Some of them have been on the team four, five years. It's hard to play your last game in this gym as a Lady Rattler volleyball player. But they were able to gather themselves and take care of business."

Mindful of Raton's strong defense, Benavidez said she tried different offensive approaches against Raton.

"They are very scrappy, so we worked on hitting the ball different because this is our third time playing them," she said. "So we worked on different touches. And a couple of times, it worked."

Raton coach Sara Lark said her team still tends to wilt under pressure.

"We're still working on building that mental toughness, because if we get down one to two points, then we just ... it's like a mental game; it's hard to to come out on the other side," she said.

Raton, ranked eighth in Class 2A by MaxPreps, fell to 13-7, 5-3.

Tucumcari trailed by as many as four points during the first set, but Lafferty made three kills down the stretch to rally her team to the 25-19 win.

In the second set, the Lady Rattlers jumped to a 7-1 lead and never was threatened.

In the final set, THS trailed as much as 15-9 against the Lady Tigers. Seven unanswered points by the Lady Rattlers reversed that momentum.

With the score 20-20, Lopez made a kill and a block for another point. Caylee Benavidez executed a block for another point to give Tucumcari a 24-20 lead.

When a Raton attacker's spike flew out of bounds to secure Tucumcari's win, Cambree Benavidez jumped into the arms of older sister Caylee in celebration.

Tucumcari 3, Pecos 0

Tucumcari's hitters dominated during a 25-17, 25-14, 25-16 district victory last Monday over visiting Pecos.

Cambree Benavidez led the Lady Rattlers with 17 kills, while Kyla Lopez added seven kills, four blocks for points and five service aces.

Tucumcari totaled 34 kills during the match, compared to Pecos' 11.

THS coach Dana Benavidez gave a lot of credit to her team's strong offense to the back-row play of senior July Lafferty.

"Tonight, we had great passing from July," she said. "She was making saves corner to corner, got to a lot of balls that I was super proud of.

"Cam, Kyla just pounded the ball down. It was really good."

Pecos fell to 7-12 and 1-6 in district play. The Panthers never had a lead at any point in the match.

Clovis Christian 3, San Jon 0

San Jon kept it close for two sets but ultimately fell 25-22, 25-23, 25-14 in a district match against Clovis Christian.

San Jon fell to 5-14 overall and 0-8 in district play.

Clovis Christian improved to 9-8, 3-2.