Sundevil Tennis Starts Season off in El Paso
The Española Valley Sundevils started the year off with a strong performance at the Austin-Jefferson tournament in El Paso, Tx. where the boys finished fifth and the girls sixth out of 16 teams. Both were the top among New Mexico teams at the tournament.
Olivia Suazo and Jennifer Gallegos finished fourth place in the girls doubles bracket out of 32 teams.
Owen Silva-Vigil and Damian Gallegos finished sixth in boys doubles. And Ian Gaytan was the eighth-place finisher in boys singles.
Española will host a tournament at home on Friday and Saturday.
McCurdy Girls Get First Win of the Year
Down to just five players at times this season, the Lady Bobcats kept fighting, and finally came away with their first win.
“They were ecstatic,” said McCurdy coach Dennis Archuleta.
McCurdy (1-22, 1-8 in district) defeated Mora (6-16, 1-6) on Feb. 11 24-20, winning their first game after starting the year with 21 losses. (The Bobcats also went winless in 2020-21, and last season lost 21 games while defeating Monte Del Sol and Mora.)
The Bobcats had six players available for the game, though Kaylee Martinez was ill and had limited playing time in the game. Mora, meanwhile, was similarly down to five players.
“We finally had an even match,” Archuleta said.
Amanda Tafoya led the team with 10 points in the game. It was also senior night, and the team honored senior guard and captain Alyssia Sandoval, and Emma Lovato who missed the season with an injury.
A team of very young and inexperienced players, with two eighth-grade and one freshman starter, is gaining valuable varsity playing time through this season.
“Every time they step on the court, whether it be practice or a game, they walk out better than they walk in,” Archuleta said.
Sundevils, Elks Falter in District
Española Valley and Pojoaque Valley boys basketball have fallen out of the race for a district title, and now risk missing the state tournament altogether after tough losses.
Pojoaque (14-10, 2-4 in district) lost on Feb. 9 to Taos (14-10, 5-1) by 19 points. They briefly took a lead in the third quarter, but Taos finished the game with a 30-10 advantage from that point to win 75-56.
The Elks next play at Los Alamos (10-15, 4-3) on Friday, and face Moriarty (8-17, 1-6) on Saturday in a game postponed from Tuesday.
The Elks remain on the bubble of a state tournament appearance: they are currently ranked No. 13 on the MaxPreps algorithm after being top-five earlier in the season.
Española, after starting the district season at 4-1 and in first place, suffered two bad losses. On Feb. 9, they lost 47-39 to Moriarty. Two days later, they lost 51-41 to Los Alamos (10-14, 4-2) to fall further behind.
The Sundevils will need an extra amount of luck to make the state tournament: they were eliminated from district regular season title contention when Taos clinched first place on Tuesday. Their seemingly last hope is to go all the way in the district tournament.