“Was it,” asked Jennifer Martinez after the dust had settled on the Lady Cards 25-20, 25-13, 25-18 victory over the Lady Golden Eagles. “I had no idea. We don’t pay attention to all those details. We just play one game at a time.”
Regardless of their disregard for league standings, the fact remained that had the Lady Red Birds lost, they would have been officially eliminated from the playoff race.
However, thanks to some very strong net play, a beautiful passing game and consistent serving, the Lady Cards did win on Saturday and now have a chance to advance to the postseason for the first time since 2014.
With the win, the Lady Cards and Lady Eagles are now tied for fourth place at 7-6 with one game remaining for both teams. Hanna, which has now lost three matches in a row, hosts Weslaco East on Tuesday in its regular-season finale. Meanwhile, Harlingen wraps things up at San Benito, which has already clinched a playoff berth.
In their previous meeting at Hanna last month, the Lady Eagles beat the Lady Cards 3-1. On Saturday, Harlingen most definitely got its revenge as they outplayed Hanna in every facet of the game.
From the very start, the Lady Cards showed more energy and emotion as they came out in Game 1 and quickly took a 12-7 advantage.
Hanna did try to rally but the Lady Cards continually regained their composure in the face of adversity and held on to win the first set 25-20.
The momentum of winning the first game carried over to the second as the Lady Cards bounded out to an early lead and cruised to an easy 25-13 win behind some bone-rattling hits by Kristen Kattan, Brianna Ramos, Teagan Dickey and Desiree Sanchez.
Despite a commanding 2-0 lead in the match, the Lady Cards didn’t let up one bit and dominated the third set en route to the 25-18 win that concluded the sweep.
Martinez said her team would relish the win for only a short while before preparing for the Lady Greyhounds on Tuesday.
“It’s always a crazy rivalry when we go over there, but we’re going to stay humble, stay positive and, most of all, stay focused because we know they are going to be hungry for the win,” she said.