By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
PORT ISABEL — Right now, Port Isabel is understandably a volleyball team in transition as the Lady Tarpons are looking for ways to replace graduated standout hitters Gaby Torres and Kelcie Swink from last season.
Hanna, meanwhile, is a team that appears to be further along with its progress as the Lady Golden Eagles are thriving behind the return of nine players with an ample amount of varsity experience.
The Lady Eagles and Lady Tarpons played their regular-season opener Tuesday at the Port Isabel gym, and Hanna came away with a relatively easy 26-19, 25-15, 25-16 victory.
“It’s an experienced team (that we have), and of course, it will capitalize (and win) if the other team is rebuilding,” Hanna coach Ansgar Hagemann said of the matchup with the Lady Tarpons. “We always like to play Port Isabel because they always give us a heck of a game.
“Of course, I’m pleased,” Hagemann added. “I’d rather that we be 1-0 than 0-1 (after our season opener).”
This time, the Lady Eagles coach said, it was just a matter of Hanna’s experience versus the inexperience of the Lady Tarpons.
“Port Isabel has a quality program, and they can compete with any Class 6A school most years when they’re not rebuilding,” Hagemann added. “This year, they’re rebuilding, but we’re always happy to play them because they have such a good program.”
The first game was the most competitive. It featured four early ties, and the Lady Tarpons were up 11-10 at one point before the Lady Eagles battled back to take the lead for good.
The biggest advantage for Hanna in the first game was 25-19, which came on the final point of the initial set when the Lady Tarpons couldn’t handle a volley and hit the ball out of bounds.
Unforced errors continued to hurt Port Isabel during the next two games as the Lady Tarpons fell behind 7-1 and 12-4 in the second set before losing 25-15.
It was the same story during the third game as Port Isabel saw Hanna surge ahead for advantages of 12-1 and 18-7. The Lady Eagles swept the match with a 25-16 victory in the third game.
“Our passing wasn’t working as well as I would have liked it to be,” Lady Tarpons coach Julie Breedlove said. “One thing that we’re really stressing this year is our passing. We just didn’t pass the ball very well, and I think the girls were a little nervous, too.
“I thought our hitters did a good job,” she added. “We’re learning to play with a whole new group of girls, so the things I saw tonight maybe were a little expected considering our lack of (varsity) experience and the young age of our players.”
A pair of sophomores led the Lady Tarpons at the net as Madison Bickerton and Olivia Soliz each had five kills. Alex Martinez contributed nine digs.
For Hanna, Pamela Ellis and Sausha-Rae Brown led the way with 12 and six kills, respectively. Ellis also added a pair of aces. Also for Hanna, Flora Herrera had two blocks, two kills and two aces, while teammate Bianca Olivares had two aces and 21 assists.
Prior to Tuesday, the last time the Lady Tarpons played the Lady Eagles was nearly one year ago when the teams met on the same court in the final of the Port Isabel Tournament on Aug. 23, 2014.
That day, playing a best-of-three game format in the championship match, Hanna won 25-19, 20-25, 15-12.
“We squeezed ahead by an inch against them to win that one (last year),” Hagemann said.
Hanna and Port Isabel next play in the Poundfest Tournament starting Thursday in McAllen.