DAVE FAVILA | Staff Writer
SAN BENITO — A lot was on the line in Tuesday’s regular-season finale between the San Benito Greyhounds and the Harlingen Lady Cardinals.
For the Lady ’Hounds, who were already playoff bound no matter what happened, a win was needed in order to keep pace with Brownsville Rivera in the District 32-6A standings.
For the Lady Cards, however, a win was needed to keep their postseason hopes alive.
As it turned out, the Lady ’Hounds got the 25-18, 25-18, 25-23 win. However, the win didn’t come easy or without controversy. And even after the dust settled, it was not immediately known if the Lady Cards had been officially eliminated.
Trailing the match 0-2, the Lady Red Birds came out in the third set determined to get back into the match. Even after the Lady ’Hounds got to match point at 24-20, Harlingen refused to go down easily and battled back to cut the lead to 24-23.
As Harlingen got set to serve in an attempt to tie the set, the referee suddenly blew his whistle and signaled that the match was over. San Benito took the game 25-23 and won the match 3-0.
“It was a five-second call,” said San Benito head coach Ruby Medina after the match. “You have five seconds to serve and they didn’t get it off on time.”
Naturally, the call did not sit well with the Lady Cards as head coach Jennifer Martinez questioned the official while her stunned team looked on. But it was to no avail. The call stood. The Lady Cards were done for the year.
Or were they?
Despite the loss, the Lady Cards still had a chance of staying alive IF Brownsville Hanna had lost, too.
Unfortunately for Harlingen, the Lady Golden Eagles snapped their three-game losing skid with a 3-1 win over Weslaco East to finish the league season at 8-6 – one game ahead of the Lady Cards, who finished at 7-7.
STILL WORK TO BE DONE: Despite the Lady ’Hounds’ victory, they still don’t know who they’ll face in the playoffs since they remained tied with Brownsville Rivera in the 32-6A standings after the Lady Raiders beat Harlingen South.
Both teams finished the regular season tied for second in the league at 10-4. A seeding playoff will now have to be worked out in order to determine which squad will be the No. 2 seed and take on PSJA Memorial or the No 3 seed and face Edinburg High in the opening round of the postseason next week.
Coach Medina said something would be worked out as soon as today.