HARLINGEN — Donna’s Yvette Tamez had 13 kills and five blocks as the Bravettes came back to defeat the Harlingen Lady Cardinals 18-25, 25-9, 25-18, 28-26 at the Lady Cardinals gymnasium on Tuesday evening.
The Bravettes rode a wave of momentum and took three straight sets to close the match.
“We knew coming into the game that they were going to be up for us and they (Harlingen) played really well,” said Donna head coach Cynthia Viesa. “In the last set it was very exciting going back and fourth, it could have gone either way but I’m glad we pulled it off.”
In the fourth and final game, the lead went back and fourth four times as both teams left it all on the court.
Down 21-19 in the fourth set, Donna senior Tamez came up big with one of her 13 kills on the night to sway the momentum back to Bravettes’ favor after the Lady Cardinals went on 5-0 run. Tamez was an unstoppable force down the middle as the senior also has two crucial blocks down the stretch.
“She is a big part of our offense obviously but on defense she came through with big blocks for us,” said Viesa.
After winning the first game, Harlingen struggled to find a balance in the second game going down by as much as 16 points after coach Viesa made some adjustments.
“We came in here very relaxed and I told the team about expecting to play at a higher level and they came back in that second game to get the points that we needed and we just kept pushing from there,” said Viesa.
Aside from Tamez, teammates Sarah Gonzalez (12 kills), Melanie Arenas (11 kills, 2 aces), Adrianna Martinez (35 assists, 1 ace), and Kara Yanez (32 digs) also contributed in the win.
Harlingen senior Addison Dickey stood out as a top performer for the Lady Cardinals as the veteran came up with two crucial kills in the final moments of the game.