By MARIO AGUIRRE | STAFF WRITER
McALLEN — The celebration that erupted following McAllen Memorial’s match-clinching kill over McAllen on Saturday carried far more enthusiasm what an average regular-season game generally would.
After all, the Lady Mustangs beat their district rivals on the road, 22-25, 25-17, 15-25, 25-20, 15-12, avenging last year’s set of sweeps. At the same time, Memorial remained undefeated in 30-6A, as the first portion of their schedule winds down.
More importantly, though, the Lady Mustangs (27-2, 4-0) gained a favorable advantage in what figures to be another competitive race for the district title. Last year, it was McHi and McAllen Rowe that finished first and second, respectively, after beating Memorial in three out of four head-to-head matchups.
This year, however, the Lady Mustangs have the early edge, having topped McHi (32-2, 3-2) and Rowe (31-9, 4-1) in their first go-around.
“It definitely picks up our confidence,” setter Taylor Marbarger said. “But we’re still going to work hard for the next round, because we know they’re going to come out hard.”
With 7-8 district games remaining, there’s still plenty of season left for teams to make up ground. But with one game separating the top three teams in district last year, any win — especially one against a district-title challenger — could heavily influence the order of the standings.
“It will always be close, and we know that,” Memorial coach Lorena Lopez said. “Any time we could beat a McAllen school, it puts you a step ahead.
“Being 4-0, of course it’s a huge advantage. But it’s not going to get any easier from here.”
Marburger, for her part, came up big once again. The junior setter doled out two aces, six digs and 37 assists, most of those to Lanie Nitsch (12 kills). In fact, Marburger helped ignite a 7-1 to close out the fourth game. She fed Draik Banks to break out of a 19-all tie, and then found the senior middle hitter again for a 23-19 advantage.
Following a serving error by Memorial, Marburger connected with Banks again to stave off elimination.
“Honestly, it was all heart,” Marburger said. “We worked for this. I owe it to my back row, I owe it to my hitters. They set me up to do my job.”
In the fifth set, there were four ties and no more than a two-point differential, until McHi hit the ball out of bounds. After a Hannah Bishop score, though, McHi kept things even, until a two-handed dump by Memorial, followed by an Allie Nitsch score that sealed it.
“I think both teams came out with a lot of adrenaline,” Lopez said. “From both sides, you just saw those attacks were amazing. It’s something you see in a college match. And I think once the adrenaline wore off on both sides, we were able to compete more evenly with them.”
McHi had its chances throughout. Even after losing Game 2 to even the match at one apiece, Lexi Giusti (20 assists) and Carter Helmcamp (18 assists) did their part to rally the team back. They found outside hitter Julia Monday for 20 kills. (She also had nine digs and four aces.) And Sydney Pemelton, a middle blocker, recorded 14 kills, eight blocks and one ace.
The Lady Bulldogs closed out Game 3 on a 4-2 run, with one of those points allowed coming on a dropped ball. Other than that, Taylor Helmcamp had a block-kill, Monday served up back-to-back aces, and Carter Helmcamp spotted sister Taylor for the dagger.
“It was just two good teams going at it,” McHi coach Paula Dodge said. “Good defense, some great setters. Strong hitters, blockers.
“It’s one of those matches, and now we go on to the next game.”