By ADAM KUJAWSKI, Staff Writer
The first round of District 32-6A volleyball is complete, and the Los Fresnos Lady Falcons haven’t lost a match.
The Lady Falcons (27-9, 7-0) extended their lead in district with a road win against the third-place Hanna Lady Golden Eagles (25-13, 5-2) winning 25-14, 25-22, 25-19.
Hanna fought during the first game and played Los Fresnos to a 9-9 tie, but the Lady Falcons rode a hot streak and won 12 of the next 15 points to put Game 1 out of reach.
The Lady Eagles came close to tying the match at one game apiece when they battled back from a 22-18 deficit to tie the game at 22, but Los Fresnos coach Becky Woods called a timeout to rally her team.
“You never take any team in this district for granted, and Hanna is a very good comeback team,” she said. “(During the timeout) I told them, ‘The game shouldn’t be that close to begin with. When the ball comes over, you better put it away.’”
And put it away they did. The Lady Falcons won three straight points to seal the second game.
Hanna didn’t go away easily in Game 3. Los Fresnos took a commanding 12-4 lead behind a nine-point run, and it looked like it would be a blowout. But the Lady Eagles fought back and trailed by only five points late. It looked like they might pull it off, but the Lady Falcons won 3 of 4 points down the stretch to complete the sweep.
“Overall, I thought they played with a lot of heart,” Hanna coach Ansgar Hagemann said. “They never dropped their head. They could’ve done that in the third game but they didn’t, and they had a comeback.”
Hanna’s Pam Ellis led all players with 14 kills, and teammate Flora Herrera was the Lady Eagles’ next closest with five. Bianca Olivares added 16 assists for Hanna.
Los Fresnos spread the wealth on offense. Four Lady Falcons had double-digit kills in the match. Joseline Caraveo had 13, Jackie Kingsbury had 12 and Alexandra Cano chipped in 10 along with teammate Sam Ibarra. Peyton Sales set up more than 60 percent of her team’s attack with 31 assists on 50 total kills.
Next, Hanna travels to San Benito to take on the Lady Greyhounds, and Los Fresnos will head to Lopez to face the Lady Lobos. Both matches start at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Adam Kujawski covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @adamkujo1.