By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
Singing the National Anthem didn’t go all that well, but everything else that followed went pretty smooth for the Brownsville Veterans Memorial Lady Chargers on Saturday in their District 32-6A volleyball opener.
Playing at home, the defending 32-6A co-champion Lady Chargers (28-10) swept past the Harlingen South Lady Hawks 25-10, 25-6, 25-11.
Before the match began, it was announced the Lady Chargers would sing the National Anthem, a task by no means easy for anyone.
The girls had a little trouble staying together in the same key during the course of the Anthem, but they finished in harmony and received a strong round of applause from the spectators for their effort.
“Last week, the (recorded) National Anthem wouldn’t play, so the girls just started singing it,” Lady Chargers coach Lisa Mares said. “It touched the parents, and the girls told me, ‘Coach, we want to sing it from now on. Let’s start something new at our school (of having the team sing the National Anthem).’
““I think it’s a nice gesture because we’re Veterans Memorial,” Mares added. “We didn’t practice it (before the girls sang it Saturday), so that’s something we’re going to work on. We need more practice.”
As for what transpired on the volleyball court, the Lady Chargers were right in tune with their game from the very beginning.
“South struggled with serve reception, and when you have trouble in that area you really can’t do too much,” Mares said. “I felt our serving game really helped us. We finished with 13 service aces, and (libero) Krista Lopez had six of them (including four in the first game).”
Lopez also led Brownsville Veterans with 13 digs. Teammate Cassandra Valdez, a setter, finished with 17 assists and four aces. Megan Sanchez, Sarah Sandoval and Bridget Himes recorded six, six and four kills, respectively, for the Lady Chargers, and Sandoval added seven digs.
“I was very nervous before the match started because it was the beginning of district,” Mares said. “I hadn’t even seen South play at any tournaments this season, and I didn’t really know anything about them. Also, our week of practice wasn’t really so hot, so I told the girls before Saturday’s match that ‘Hey, this is district, so give it 100 percent.’ I think they really showed up to play.
““I can’t say I didn’t feel any pressure because anything can happen in any match,” Mares added. “Even after (winning) the first game (25-10), I was telling the girls to still push hard. Volleyball is a game of momentum, and sometimes you can lose it after you win the first game (handily), and the other team comes back. I just told the girls they have to play every point with urgency.”
For South, Christina Montez and Adrianna Espinoza each had three kills. Also for South, Daniella Rodriguez, Lexi Kruse and Ashley Reyna each had two digs.
“Veterans played well today, they played together and they really gave us a tough battle,” Lady Hawks coach Jennifer Taliancich said. “We mostly need to improve on our passing, improve on imposing our blocks a little bit more, and we missed a lot of serves that we should have had. Hopefully we’ll pick it up for the next time.”
District action continues Tuesday as Brownsville Veterans travels to Rivera and South is at home against Lopez.
Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess.