By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
For teams that advance in the state playoffs, sooner or later there’s going to be some travel involved.
After opening the postseason at home and playing a down-to-the-wire bi-district thriller, the Brownsville Veterans Memorial volleyball team now goes on the road for a Class 6A area-round match against Laredo United. The match is set for 7 p.m. Thursday at Corpus Christi Ray. Originally, the teams had agreed to play at Corpus Christi Carroll, but it turned out the Carroll gym was not available.
“It’s definitely going to be a battle,” Brownsville Veterans coach Lisa Mares said of Thursday’s match. “It’s going to be a tough task, because defensively United is a great team also (in addition to what it does offensively).”
On Tuesday, the District 32-6A runner-up Lady Chargers (30-12), ranked No. 6 in the Rio Grande Valley, staged one of the biggest comebacks in the history of their volleyball program by prevailing at home 22-25, 24-26, 25-16, 25-22, 15-12 in a bi-district match against a highly motivated and unranked PSJA Memorial squad.
“We just had an eye-opener (to begin the playoffs),” said Sarah Sandoval, a senior outside hitter for the Lady Chargers. “We know we have to work hard and fight hard. We’re not a team to roll over, but we still have to work hard for it. And now, we have to work even harder.
“I’m really happy and excited we got the win in bi-district,” Sandoval added. “We had to dig deep and fight for it. (Now it’s) next round here we come.”
Thursday will mark a playoff rematch for the Lady Chargers and District 29-6A champion Laredo United (34-11), a team they have not yet played this season.
When Brownsville Veterans and United met during the area round of last year’s playoffs, the Lady Chargers prevailed 25-23, 19-25, 25-19, 28-26. Brownsville Veterans then wound up one victory shy of qualifying for the Region IV-6A Tournament for the first time as the Lady Chargers lost to McAllen High during the third round last season.
Laredo United has made it to at least the second round of the playoffs four straight seasons. To reach Thursday’s match, the Lady Longhorns defeated Mission High 25-20, 25-19, 25-9 in bi-district Tuesday at Roma.
Mares hopes the resolve her team displayed in winning its bi-district match carries over to Thursday.
“I told our girls (when we were behind Tuesday), ‘Don’t think about it as though we have to win, we have to win,’” Mares said. “I’ve always believed if you start thinking that way, then it’s not going to happen. I told them, ‘You just have to do your job and take every point one at a time, and that’s how you can win and don’t lose confidence.’
“I’m so proud of them because they showed a lot of confidence, especially toward the end with the way they were hitting the ball,” she added. “They showed that they believed in themselves.”
The Brownsville Veterans-Laredo United winner plays McAllen Rowe (39-9) or Edinburg High (32-7) next week in the regional quarterfinals.
The only other team from 32-6A still alive in the playoffs is district champion Los Fresnos (38-8), ranked No. 2 in the Valley. The Lady Falcons next face 29-6A runner-up Laredo Alexander (30-11) at 3 p.m. Saturday at La Joya Palmview for an area-round match. The winner there would face McAllen Memorial (34-4) or Edinburg North (31-10), also next week in the regional quarterfinals.
Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess.