By JOSHUA McKINNEY, Staff Writer
A young Rivera team had its hands full when dealing with one of the Rio Grande Valley’s strongest attacking teams.
The Rivera Lady Raiders lost to the McAllen Rowe Lady Warriors in three sets, 25-18, 25-13, 25-12, Tuesday at Rivera.
Rowe’s hitters kept finding the holes in Rivera’s defense, with Jackelyn Alaniz leading the way. Alaniz had a team-high 14 kills in the match and kept the Lady Raiders off-balanced with powerful shots.
The Raiders youthful backline is still growing, and Rivera head coach Elizabeth Avelar-Guerra thinks facing a strong team that attacks with multiple types of shots will help them handle the pressure later in the season.
“We’re young, especially our defense,” Avelar-Guerra said. “The defense is very young. (These ladies) need to learn why I’m trying to tell them to do and see it. All you ladies need to do is learn how to do it. The girls played well. They got frustrated.”
Rivera fought back from a 5-0 deficit in the first set and kept it close, until Rowe went off on a 9-2 surge with the set tied at 14.
A run of 10-2 early in second set gave the Lady Warriors a nine-point lead that put Rivera in a hole, and Rowe’s 11-2 start to the third set gave the team a comfortable lead to close it out.
No one likes to lose home matches like this, but schedule tough opponents early in the season should have Rivera up to speed once District 32-6A play rolls around in September.
“It’s a good way for them to see and learn and get prepared for district, because if they can play against them, they can do well in district,” Avelar-Guerra said. “That’s my schedule. You’ve got to step up and learn. It’s okay to lose. There’s no problem with losing as long as you’re learning, getting better and you learn not to get frustrated. That’s what I was telling them. You can’t worry about the score, you just play every point as hard as you can. Don’t worry about the score. If you lose, you lose. As long as you give the best you had, (because) if you give it the best you have and you lose, walk off the court proud.”
Stephanie Garza led Rivera with seven kills and also had an ace, and Kourntey Shears finished the match with eight assists, two kills and an ace.
McAllen Rowe is looking for options from the attacking side, but having a big hitter like Alaniz helps while the rest of the team comes along.
“Sooner or later, the other teams are going to find out that Jackie’s the one putting the ball away,” McAllen Rowe head coach Magda Canales said. “We want to be able to rotate the lineup one way or another where she comes in at a different time.”
Alaniz also had a team-leading three blocks for Rowe, Vanessa Lopez had 18 assists and Amanda Martinez had six kills.
Joshua McKinney covers high school sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via email [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @joshuabvherald.