BY TJ GARCIA | SPECIAL TO THE MONITOR
PHARR — As it stands, PSJA North coach Alicia Jaime said her Lady Raiders are in Year 3 of a five-year plan.
In 2014, her first season, PSJA North fell one match short of the playoffs. Last year, the Lady Raiders made the postseason but lost to perennial powerhouse Los Fresnos in the first round.
This year, they’re at it again. And at 24-15 overall and 7-7 in district, the Lady Raiders are in the playoffs. That’s back-to-back playoff appearances after a 16-year drought. Expectations are now beginning to creep up on PSJA North, and that’s fine with Jaime.
“That’s how it is,” Jaime said. “We told them the bar is going to be higher. It’s not just a matter of, ‘Oh, we made it.’ It’s what’s the next step?”
PSJA North still has some work to do even though it is excited about meeting Los Fresnos in bi-district again.
It lost 25-8, 25-22, 25-12, at home to Edinburg High on Tuesday. The Lady Raiders played well in spurts, but not well enough to challenge Edinburg in what amounted to a playoff tuneup as the match’s outcome did not influence playoff pairings. The Lady Bobcats (33-7, 14-2) were paced by Tianna Howard’s 15 kills and Dezi Marmolejo’s 32 assists and six aces.
Still, the Lady Raiders are poised to make some noise in the postseason, Jaime said. She believes that two straight playoff appearances are evidence that the program has turned the corner.
“It was a matter of changing the attitude of the kids and getting focused on what we are here for,” Jaime said. “I think when they started seeing the results, they started buying into it.”
One such convert is junior libero Melissa Palacios. The four-sport star is this squad’s floor general. She said PSJA North has improved its quality of play little by little, even while losing five important senior contributors from last season.
“Honestly, I thought we were going to be a better team last year,” said Palacios, who leads the team in digs with 10 per game. “But this year I think we are better because of the chemistry we have.”
Not lost on Palacios is being part of the first team that made the playoffs in 16 years last year.
“I told coach ‘Whoa, we just made history here.’”
Besides Palacios, Jaime is relying on players like senior outside hitter Stephanie Crispin (11.5 kills per game), junior outside hitter Ashley Garza (nine kills per game) and senior setter Samantha Enriquez (30 assists per game).
Jaime hopes the team’s strengths and its tough early season schedule start to pay off in the playoffs. The Lady Raiders placed in all three tournaments they entered, including the McAllen Poundfest, and even nabbed a runner-up trophy in the Hidalgo tournament.
“We played those top caliber teams to let us see where we stood and where we needed to get to,” she said. “We wanted to play playoff competitors and that pushed us to work harder.”