The Goddard Rockets volleyball team swept the Gadsden Panthers (25-8, 25-11, 25-11) in their home opener Tuesday, Sept. 1.
Gadsden had no answer for Goddard outside hitters Olivia Riffell and Payton Abalos. Riffell compiled 14 total kills and six digs. Abalos added 11 kills, five digs and a block. Libero Ellie Graves and setter Landry Brown also put together strong performances. Graves recorded 17 digs, while Brown added five digs and 36 assists.
Rockets head coach Andy Luikens said he likes the way his team played.
“I thought we did good,” Luikens said. “We put a lot of pressure on Gadsden with our serve, and that gave us a lot of easy balls that we were able to turn into points. We passed really well, so that made things a lot easier on us and difficult for them.”
Goddard (2-0) made the Panthers (2-3) play from behind from the start, opening the first set on a 20-4 run and prompting Gadsden head coach Priscilla Jaramillo to call a timeout. The Panthers closed the set strong but still fell by 17 points.
Gadsden showed improvement in the second set, trailing just 17-11 with plenty of time for a comeback. The Rockets did not allow that to happen, however, as they went on an 8-0 run to cap the set.
The Panthers got off to their best start during the third set, tying the game at 8-8 early on. Goddard then went on another run to close the match, outscoring Gadsden 17-3 to claim victory.
Luikens said his team has played well so far to start the season, but still wants to see improvement in certain areas as the competition gets stronger.
“It’ll be a big difference to face a team that can really attack the ball at us,” Luikens said. “I want to see how we handle teams that can really swing or put pressure on us. I think we do good at passing, but that’ll still be a test for us moving forward. I feel like we’re also a little undersized, so if we can get our girls to the right spot to make some blocks and slow the ball down a little bit, that’ll be great.”
The Rockets will be back in action against the Alamogordo Tigers (1-2) in their first game of the Sweet 16 Tournament at 9:45 a.m. Friday, Sept. 4, at Las Cruces High School.
Marshall Mecham can be reached at (915) 232-1793 or on X @mecham_marshall. Mecham serves with the New Mexico Local News Fellowship, which places emerging journalists in newsrooms across the state. Learn more at www.newmexicolocalnewsfellowships.org.
