BY GREG LUCA | STAFF WRITER
MISSION — Despite playing with a starting lineup they had never practiced, the Mission Veterans Memorial Lady Patriots volleyball team showed very few, if any, cracks during Tuesday’s season opener.
Even with a player quitting the team before the game, coach Diana Lerma’s Lady Patriots still looked like the class of the Valley, taking down McAllen Memorial 25-23, 26-24, 25-18 at Mission Vets.
“It’s sad seeing one of our fellow teammates leave, but we can’t dwell on it,” middle blocker Daisy Reyna said. “We can’t be like, ‘Oh, they left, let’s not give it our best.’ No, we’re going to give it our best. We’re going to play even harder. … I feel like today, we did show that there wasn’t a big gap for them leaving.”
The Lady Patriots entered Tuesday with just eight players on the roster, down from the original 11. Lerma declined to comment on who the departed players were, or what their rationale was for leaving.
“When you have a loss of players, you’re going to feel it, being that they’ve been with us for some time,” Lerma said. “But understanding that they have to adjust to what we have and do their best, I think they handled it very well.”
Graduating just one senior from a team that made the school’s second consecutive trip to the state’s Sweet 16 last year, Mission Veterans still heads into 2015 with high expectations.
The Lady Patriots bring back a pair of All-Valley first teamers in D.D. Ibarra and Gabby Lerma, plus an All-Valley second-team player in Reyna.
“I feel like our team is capable of going past the Sweet 16. Last year, yes, we didn’t make it. But I felt like we could’ve,” Reyna said. “It’s just that, ‘Oh, they’re taller. They’re better. They come from up state.’ Yes, we get scared, but I feel like we can beat them. We can go further.”
All three big-ticket returners showed well on Tuesday. Reyna had 11 kills and 6 blocks, Gabby had 10 kills and 15 digs, and Ibarra just missed out on a triple double with 9 kills, 16 assists and 11 digs.
The Lady Patriots were pushed in the first and second sets on Tuesday, a rare occurrence for a team that hadn’t lost to a Valley opponent since 2012 before a slip-up against Los Fresnos last season. In the first, Mission Vets trailed for a large chunk before going on a 9-5 run to close it out. In set two, Memorial led 24-23 before Vets reeled off three straight points to claim it.
Gabby said the team drew on its wealth of experience. She specifically cited last season’s regional quarterfinal matchup against Calallen, when Vets lost the first set and trailed in others before winning in four. That same resiliency was on display Tuesday.
“We came back. We didn’t let that stop us,” Gabby said. “We didn’t get scared, or shut down, or anything. We just pushed and we came out with the win.”
The Lady Patriots believe they will rely on their defense to try to get back to the Sweet 16. While Mission Veterans doesn’t have as much height as many of their up-state opponents, the team believes it can make up for it by getting to every ball and keeping points alive.
Coach Lerma said one of the biggest keys for that unit is libero Mariah Gonzalez, a starter who was not a part of last season’s team.
“We’re here for a reason: We’re here to give it our all,” Gonzalez said. “We want to go to state. The people we do have on the team, that’s everyone’s goal. And that’s what we’ll do together.”