HARLINGEN — It may have been the first district volleyball game of the year for the Harlingen Lady Cardinals and the Brownsville Rivera Lady Raiders, but the drama was heavy.
Harlingen had two chances to win the match’s fifth game, but much like the rest of the day, they squandered their lead and allowed the Lady Raiders to steal the District 32-6A opener, 17-25, 26-24, 14-25, 25-18, 16-14, Saturday afternoon at Harlingen High School.
Rivera (1-0 in district) started the fifth game sluggish, but scored the last four points to put the match away.
“The girls played out of their shoes today and were aggressive. They started slow, but I told them to ignore the score and just play every point hard,” said “Brownsville Rivera head coach Elizabeth Avelar-Guerra.
“Michelle Morales did an awesome job today. She turned it on today and really helped us out. She was dynamic and the other girls started to play together as a team.”
Harlingen (0-1 in district) opened up aggressively on the net in the first game and led the second game 24-21, but Rivera won the next five points to even the match.
A simple tweak gave Rivera new life.
“We changed our line up. I played Michelle longer and the other girls responded,” Avelar-Guerra said. “The girls started playing for each other and that was the real difference for us tonight.”
Rivera dropped the third game by 11 points and trailed in the fourth, but an 8-1 run by the Lady Raiders evened the match at 2-2.
Harlingen began the deciding game down 4-1, but eventually put themselves up 14-12 and on the verge of victory, only to see Rivera walk off the court victorious moments later.
Harlingen, despite the loss, piled up 31 kills on the night and was led by Addison Dickey and Samantha Quilantan.
Dickey racked up 13 kills and one block, while Quilantan recorded 10 kills and 15 assists.
Lady Cardinals head coach Jennifer Martinez refused to comment after the game.