Portales junior Gabby Garcia tips the ball over the net during the third game of Thursday’s match against Artesia at the PHS gym.

Portales senior Brittney Gardner receives a serve from Artesia during the second game of Thursday’s match at the PHS gym.

The Portales Lady Rams pulled out a seesaw match against Artesia Thursday night at the PHS gym, handing the Lady Bulldogs just their third loss of the season in a 23-25, 25-13, 25-14, 21-25, 15-13 decision.

Senior Jenna Wagner got a kill on match point to give the Lady Rams (8-6) the victory after Artesia, leading 14-13, turned the ball over on a service error.

Lady Rams coach Ruth Chavez was thrilled with her team’s performance, avenging a five-set loss earlier in the season at Artesia.

“It was a very positive and good night for us,” Chavez said. “I feel that we have come along way and we’ll see in the next five weeks.”

Artesia (12-3) got on the board first with a couple quick shots 3-0 before Portales was able to get back into the mix in the first game.

The Lady Bulldogs extended their lead as much as five points at time as Portales tired to close the gap 22-21. A couple of service errors and service shot into the net gave Artesia the win 25-23.

Portales dominated the second and third games before sliding back into errors in the fourth set.

“You’re going to have errors,” Chavez said. “Your not going to have a perfect game, but I thought we played well.”

Artesia got on the board first in game 4 with a kill down the middle, but passing errors got in the way for both teams. Portales was unable to keep up and fell behind 20-14.

A short rally by Portales was not enough, and the Lady Rams committed a service error on set point to square the match at 2-2.

Artesia coach Stacy Gowen said it was a competitive match, noting both teams played hard.

“Both teams had errors, they had errors and we had errors,” Artesia coach Stacy Gowen said. “We battled back and forth.”

The sides traded points in the fifth game before Artesia opened a 7-4 lead. Portales then went on an 8-2 run to lead by three, but the Lady Bulldogs chipped away to pull even 14-14.

A block by Lady Rams junior Gabby Garcia put Portales in front before Wagner’s kill ended it.

The Lady Rams defeated Artesia in two games in the junior varsity preliminary.

The Lady Rams return to action on Monday when they host District 4-3A rival Lovington at 7 p.m.