By MARIO AGUIRRE | STAFF WRITER
McALLEN — For all but one match this year, McAllen Memorial had played without Lanie Nitsch, a 5-foot-11 middle blocker and outside hitter, who was nursing a knee injury.
On Saturday, the Lady Mustangs inserted their big hitter and emotional leader back into the lineup, and they appeared as strong as ever as they dispatched McAllen Rowe 25-16, 25-18, 25-23 to wrap up the first half of their District 30-6A schedule with an undefeated record.
Nitsch picked up six kills and one block in only her second match of the season, and Memorial (32-3, 6-0) remained hot, having swept all but one of its opponents.
“Any time you get a player back, it’s about going back and working on the team chemistry again and the lineup,” Lady Mustangs coach Lorena Lopez said. “It’s good for us, though. Midpoint is a good time to start working on that.
“Lanie brings us a huge block, a lot of offense and a lot of fire. She’s really competitive, and she gives the lineup a good confidence boost.”
With Nitsch out, Memorial lacked one of its more competitive players and another scoring threat to pair with Jocelynn Everage and Taylor Marburger. The Lady Mustangs hardly seemed to show any negative side affects from the lost, however, earning the top spot in the latest RGVSports.com top 10 rankings, after beating McAllen High and handing the Lady Bulldogs their only loss of the year to a Valley program.
Memorial showed the same resiliency Saturday, fending off a pesky Rowe attack in Game 3, scoring five straight to tie it at 10 before taking the lead momentarily. After trading points, Memorial finally created some separation at 22-20 before securing its 12th straight victory.
“She’s brought the fire that she’s been holding in this whole season,” Everage said of Nitsch. “The fire, the energy, everything.”
It was Nitsch, in fact, who came away with the final kill to completed the sweep, set up by Alexia Kruse, who finished with 41 assists and 10 digs. Everage had 11 kills, three digs and one block. Marburger added 11 kills, seven digs and five assists.
“It’s all because of our positivity,” Everage said. “We went into this game expecting a good game. Just because McHi beat them (and Memorial beat McHi), we didn’t expect it to come easy. We worked hard and put everything into it.
“Game 3, we were a little tired. But we pushed through. We managed. We just need to keep our endurance up the whole time.”
For Rowe, it was yet another challenge in what is considered a rebuilding year, after losing some key players from their 2015 squad that advanced to the fourth round of the playoffs.
Even with the turnover, the Lady Warriors (24-14, 4-2 in district) has remained competitive, finding themselves in the playoff mix with a third-place standing in district behind McAllen Memorial and McAllen High.
“We’re coming along,” Rowe coach Madga Canales said. “We’ve had a few struggles here and there. Not only with combinations, but positions on the court, trying to find the right people in the right place. We’ve accomplished that. Now we just have to keep playing strong.”
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