By ADAM KUJAWSKI, Staff writer
Brownsville Veterans Memorial had no trouble with PSJA High, sweeping the Lady Bears 25-17, 25-14, 25-17 during a non-district match Tuesday night at Brownsville Veterans.
The win improved the Lady Chargers to 19-9 on the season, and coach Lisa Mares was impressed with the effort.
“I saw some good things,” she said. “I’m happy we were able to run some plays that I wanted, and I got all the girls to play.”
Brownsville Veterans had an obvious height advantage, and the games weren’t as close as the scores indicated.
PSJA High coach Lily Talamantez echoed those sentiments.
“We started out a bit slow,” she said. “We weren’t used to going against such a big blocking team like that.”
Brownsville Veterans’ Sarah Sandoval led all players with 12 kills and was followed by teammate Mariza Cardenas, who finished the match with 10 kills.
“(Cardenas) has been real consistent for us,” Mares said. “On Saturday she was a little off, so it’s real good for her to play like this right before district.”
PSJA High kept Game 1 close early when the score was tied at 6, but the Lady Chargers pulled away and maintained a steady five-point lead for the remainder of the game before closing it out 25-17.
Brownsville Veterans came out strong in Game 2 and quickly pushed the score to 6-1 before Talamantez called a timeout to calm things down.
“(During the timeout) I told them to start playing together and that we’ve got to start pushing for points,” she said.
Out of the break, PSJA High showed some fight but failed to sustain the pressure. A second timeout by Talamantez with the Lady Bears behind 16-9 proved to be fruitless as the Lady Chargers stormed away to a 25-14 win.
Midway through the second game, the Lady Chargers’ Megan Sanchez collided with a teammate and appeared to roll her ankle. She did not return.
“I think it was more of a scare,” Mares said regarding Sanchez. “She’s tough, but I didn’t want to risk anything.”
Game 3 looked a lot like the first game. PSJA High held its own until the score was 8-6 in favor of Brownsville Veterans. The Lady Chargers steadily pulled away from that point en route to a match-deciding 25-17 victory in the third game.
Talamantez clarified that her team was missing some of its players due to scheduling conflicts. With some of her players doubling as soccer and tennis athletes, she was without one of her blockers and her starting libero.
“Right now we’re struggling with different lineups so we’re having to adjust,” she said. “But I think we’ve got some kids doing well. Overall, I think we played well against this caliber of team.”
Krista Lopez, the Lady Chargers’ libero, tallied a match-high 30 digs, and BB Brown chipped in 17 assists.
For the Lady Bears, Myranda Garza and Valeria Gonzales led the way with four and three kills, respectively.
This match wraps up non-district play for both schools. Brownsville Veterans travels to Harlingen South at noon Saturday to open District 32-6A competition. PSJA High faces off against District 32-5A opponent Edcouch Elsa at 2 p.m. Saturday at home.