Cavegirl Volleyball hosts Santa TeresaBy Don EskinsWith District 4A play on the horizon,the Cavegirl volleyball team (4-8) has just two more non-conference games left, to tune up their skills, prior to making their run for a 2021 districttitle."We've been tooling our skills for a run at this year's district championship all season long and our girls, who finished at 3-9 last year, have been improving each week," said Cavegirl head coach Bill Niemeier. "Had we not let a couple of games get away from us, that we should have won, they could easily be sitting at 6-6 right now." While Carlsbad High may have just two games left on this year's non-district schedule, they promise to be tough ones.Tonight(Friday)the Cavegirls will entertainthe Class 4A eighth ranked Santa Teresa Desert Warriors (8-4) in the first of those two games. Game time is set for 6:30 p.m. On Tuesday (Oct. 5) they'll pack their bags and head up to Roswell, for the second, in a scheduled 6:30 p.m. joust with the Class 4A second ranked Goddard Rockets (9-2). A Cavegirl game with Chaparral, scheduled for Saturday Oct. 2, has been cancelled."Santa Teresa will be tough tonight. The Warriors are a very good ball club and they don't have many weaknesses," said Niemeier. "Goddard will be even tougher.""But I've told all of our girls that we have to take these games in stride and not worry too much about winning or losing," the coach said. "We need to go into the games looking to build some momentum from them so we can enter district play feeling solid and ready to make a run at this year's conference title."The Cavegirls open up Distict 4A play on Oct. 12 against the Clovis Wildcats, a team they defeated 3-2 at a neutral site on Sept. 4.Just how 2021 will play out for Carlsbad High's volleyball team is still unclear. What is clear though is that senior Cavegirl Gracie Eckles is having a great year."Gracie has played big for us this season and definitely stood out," said Niemeier. "Not only for her effort on the court or the stats that she's put up, but also for her leadership."Cavegirl fans haven't been the only ones to notice Eckles' efforts either.
"Gracie has also been turning a lot of collegiate heads," said the coach. "She's already had some Division 1 recruiters from New Mexico State University, East Carolina and Portland inquiring about her. So there’s a lot of colleges out there taking notice of her. They're finding out what we've known for a long time, she can play this game, and play it well."Dig Pink Game RescheduledThe Carlsbad High vs Chaparral cancellation has created more than just one problem for the Cavegirls."It was disappointing to have to cancel our game with Chaparral, that's a gamethat I feel certain our girls could have won," said Niemeier. "But we were also planning to hold our annual Dig Pink event, a breast cancer awareness fundraiser, during the game.""As a result our Dig Pink fundraiserhas be rescheduledto take place during, either our game with Clovis on Oct. 12, or Hobbs on Oct. 19," said the Cavegirl coach. "We're hoping to see a lot of people out for that game so we can raise a lot of money for the Faith, Hope and Love Foundation