By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
LOS FRESNOS — The Los Fresnos Lady Falcons are halfway home to winning another district title in volleyball.
The Lady Falcons, ranked No. 2 in the Rio Grande Valley, completed the first round of District 32-6A action Saturday with a 7-0 record thanks to a 25-20, 25-13, 28-26 victory at home against the No. 8 Hanna Lady Golden Eagles.
But it wasn’t all smiles for the Lady Falcons.
Despite getting the victory, Los Fresnos coach Becky Woods wasn’t very pleased with what she saw as her team’s lack of focus, especially the way her girls fell behind at the start of the first and third games. She took her squad into a team meeting immediately after the match for a scolding.
“We came out sluggish and slow,” Woods said. “I don’t know why we like getting behind in the beginning (4-1 in the first game and 5-1 in the third game). I tell them, ‘Get ahead and stay ahead,’ but for some reason we seem to fall behind at the beginning of games. Then we have to fight to come back. Once we get into our rhythm, we’re fine. It’s just getting that ice-breaking first point.
“I think being 7-0 is wonderful, but I told the girls that we still have seven more matches to go,” Woods added. “My hitters were off today. We were running into each other, which we usually don’t do. We were kind of standing around and looking when balls were tipped into the middle of the court. I felt like we had a flat match. I felt we could have played a lot better.
“If we’re going to go anywhere this year in the playoffs, we’ve got to pick it up. It doesn’t matter who we play. We’ve got to play like we practice because we practice hard. We have to be there (playing well) because every point is critical. We won today, and I’m glad. The girls showed a lot of character at the end (winning the third game 28-26). They pulled it out. I’m happy about that. I’m just not happy about the way we played.”
After trailing early during the first game, Los Fresnos (30-8 overall) battled back and the score was tied practically on every point, including through 19, before the Lady Falcons surged ahead to win 25-20. The Lady Falcons led by as many as 12 points three times during the second game, 17-5, 22-10 and 25-13 to go up 2-0 in the match.
Hanna (21-12, 5-2) took the early lead, 5-1, in the third game, but again, Los Fresnos rallied. What followed were 13 ties during a back-and-forth, intense third set that was deadlocked for the final time at 26. From there, an ace by Jackie Kingsbury gave the Lady Falcons a 27-26 advantage, and moments later a block by teammate Sam Ibarra won it 28-26 to sweep the match.
For Los Fresnos, Sam Ibarra, Kingsbury and Joseline Caraveo finished with 14, 14 and nine kills, respectively. Caraveo had seven blocks, and Sam Ibarra had six. Cassie Parra added two blocks. Also for the Lady Falcons, Isis Delgado and Giselle Ibarra finished with 21 and seven digs, respectively, and Miranda Gonzales led the team with 24 assists.
Hanna was led by Pamela Ellis with nine kills, seven blocks and eight digs. Sasha-Rae Brown, Flora Herrera and Lauren Webb logged six, three and three kills, respectively, and each had one block. Bianca Olivares contributed 13 assists and two digs, and Gianna Muniz added 11 assists and one block. Also for Hanna, Yelitza Barrientos had 16 digs.
““We didn’t really get into the match until the third set, and that’s when the majority of the team started believing (we could rally and win),” Hanna coach Ansgar Hagemann said. “We weren’t excited enough the first two games. It was almost there for us (in that third game).”
Hanna begins the second round of district at home Tuesday against San Benito. The same night, Los Fresnos also will be at home to take on Lopez.
Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess.