Capital High ousted in Round of 12 of 5A state volleyball tournament at Santa Ana Star Center, St. Michael’s gains quarterfinals of 4A and will play Santa Fe Indian School today at SASC

 Desert Academy advances to 3A quarterfinals

By Arnie Leshin | November 10, 2017

All went predictable in pool play of 5A on Thursday morning, expect for Pool D.

This was the first class to take the court in the early morning hours at Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho, and as was expected, top seed St. Pius X, 2^nd seed Artesia and 3^rd seed Los Lunas advanced to Friday’s quarterfinals at the SASC, but such was not the case for fourth seed Farmington in its pool.

At 19-3, Farmington not only lost this pool, but finished third behind 9^th seed Roswell Goddard and 5^th seed Santa Teresa. The pool went to the Rockets, who were the only team in 5A to qualify below .500 (10-3).

But Goddard did play in District 2, the toughest in its class. So it played Artesia (19-2) four times and lost each time. It split four matches with second-place city rival Roswell, which came in as the 7^th seed.

It was also swept in non district matches by St. Pius X and Los Lunas. And so the Rockets’ tough schedule was a little much for Santa Teresa (17-3).

So while Farmington is lined up against Roswell in the afternoon round of 12, and Santa Teresa goes against 11^th seeded Bloomfield (13-9), Goddard gets to play in the Friday quarters versus the Albuquerque Academy-Gallup winner. The Chargers (15-6) are the 7^th seed and Gallup (12-8) is No. 12, the final seed in the field.

Los Lunas (18-4) turned back 10^th seed Capital (11-11) and Academy, and now awaits the Santa Teresa-Bloomfield survivor. St. Pius X (18-2) takes on the winner of the Roswell-Farmington match, and it is Artesia meeting up with the Kirtland Central-Capital winner. KC (13-8) entered as the 8^th seed.

In the 5A Round of 12 played later in the afternoon, Capital was eliminated by Kirtland Central, 25-23, 25-19, 25-20, Roswell knocked out Farmington, 3-0, Albuquerque Academy won in three sets over Gallup, and Santa Teresa swept Bloomfield.

This set up the Friday quarterfinals of KC against Artesia, Roswell versus St. Pius X, Academy taking on Goddard, and Santa Teresa facing Los Lunas.

In 4A, Santa Fe Indian School matches up in the Thursday quarters against neighborhood rival St. Michael’s after ousting Cobre in three sets, Albuquerque Hope Christian took three over Shiprock to set up a match against Albuquerque Sandia Prep, Moriarty swept past Hatch Valley, 3-0, and up next against Portales, while Silver won in three sets over Albuquerque Bosque School to bring on the match with Robertson.

In 3A, Raton swept Dulce and next meets top-seeded Texico, Desert Academy won in three versus Capitan to line up a match with Estancia, Loving won 3-1 over Eunice and now goes against Dexter, and the Santa Fe Prep-Rehoboth Christian victor will go against Santa Rosa.

In the first round of 2A, it was the top four seeds who won their respective pools and moved on to Friday’s quarterfinals.

In Pool A, top seed Logan won out over 8^th seed Tatum and 12^th seed Penasco, in Pool B, it was 2^nd seed Ramah finishing ahead of 7^th seed Pine Hill and 11^th seed Questa, in Pool C, 3^rd seed Fort Sumner/House reigned supreme over 6^th seed Escalante and 10^th seed Gateway Christian, and in Pool D, 4^th seed Mesilla Valley Christian won over 5^th seed Magdalena and 9^th seed Hagerman.