TJ GARCIA | SPECIAL TO THE MONITOR
MISSION — For McAllen High’s volleyball team, it’s all about the big picture.
Work hard. Get better. Work hard some more. Get into position to win district and then make a deep run into the playoffs.
The Lady Bulldogs are a powerful, yet skillful team that has done its fair share of regular-season winning. Saturday was no different. The Lady Bulldogs won their third tournament in a row this season by claiming the Sharyland ISD championship with a decisive 2-0 win over Edinburg Vela 25-17, 25-17 at Sharyland High School.
The championship, which comes on the heels of the McAllen Poundfest and San Antonio ISD titles, lifted McHi to a stellar 25-1 with district play beginning in two weeks.
“Our mindset is always keep our mind on the big goal,” senior captain Taylor Helmcamp said. “Every team is different in terms of all the competition and how hard we need to push to win, but we are constantly trying to give it our all regardless, because we have our eyes on the bigger goal and we want to go further.”
That opponent in the title tilt was no slouch.
Vela, sporting a bevy of skillful senior leaders itself, is athletic, tall and a solid playoff team with the likes of Jaida Muhammad, Nicole Avelar and Julissa Cuellar. But Saturday, McHi was too much. And while Vela made a few serious runs, the Lady Bulldogs’ height, crisp passing and effort to keep balls in play were what gave the Lady Bulldogs yet another win.
Senior middle blocker Sydney Pemelton wrecked havoc on Vela in the first game. Her blocks and kills rapidly piled up points for McHi as it took a game knotted at eight to 23-13 with two long runs behind the serving of Julia Monday. Vela battled back with the spirited play of Muhammad to make the score 24-17, but that was all the Lady SaberCats mustered before McHi closed it out, 25-17.
In game 2, it was more of the same, except maybe McHi unleashed Monday a little more. The high-jumping outside hitter’s punishing kills were too much for Vela. Combined with Pemelton, Helmcamp and assists from Carter Helmcamp, the Lady Bulldogs took a game tied at 14 and blew it wide open to win 25-17.
“This gives us a little extra boost,” McHi coach Paula Dodge said. “Confidence is there. They are playing together well. They are having fun, and we just need to continue getting better.”
Pemelton finished the game with 10 kills and four blocks, while Monday recorded eight kills, four digs and one ace. Also, Carter Helmcamp had 17 assists to along with two kills and two aces. To lead Vela (15-7), which went 2-1 in the tourney, Muhammad had seven kills and two blocks.
“It (title game) was very challenging,” Vela coach Araceli Ortega said. “It was nice to be in the gold bracket. The girls worked hard all week to get there (championship), so those are big goals that we accomplished.”