By JOSHUA McKINNEY, Staff Writer
Hanna flew out to the start it wanted in its season opener.
The Hanna Lady Golden Eagles (1-0) defeated the Port Isabel Lady Tarpons (0-1) in four sets, 25-20, 18-25, 25-17, 25-18, in each team’s opener Tuesday at Port Isabel.
Hanna coach Ansgar Hagemann liked his team’s performance during its opening match, but said the Lady Eagles aren’t at the level he wants just yet.
“Well, we wanted to be a little bit rowdier,” coach Ansgar Hagemann said. “We have some good plays and we’re going to work on the rest, but we still have a long way to go.”
Junior Ryan Wood took charge for the Lady Eagles during the match by playing strong at the net and providing Hanna with its best attacking option of the night.
“I think that we could have done much better,” Wood said. “I think everybody was just nervous because we’re a new team and we don’t have a lot of chemistry, but other than that, being a new team we did well but we have some errors to fix.”
Wood led the Lady Eagles with eight kills, seven aces and five blocks. Alexa Herrera had four kills and three aces, and Tabathia Fernandez had 10 assists.
“Tonight, she had a good night,” Hagemann said. “We believe we have six good hitters, but we didn’t utilize them. Tonight, Ryan stood out and she had an awesome game. She had an awesome offensive game.”
Both teams played tight during the first set but Hanna scored four straight points to take it, with Wood earning two on aces and one with a kill.
Olivia Soliz helped Port Isabel put together a couple of strong runs to win the second set to tie the match at 1 by getting several kills and a pair of aces.
Hanna took control after the second set, putting together long streaks during the third and fourth sets to keep Port Isabel from mounting a comeback.
The Lady Tarpons trailed 11-10 at one point during the fourth set, but seven straight points gave Hanna a comfortable lead for what was the final set of the match.
Port Isabel took on a bigger program to start its season, and coach Julie Breedlove thinks the Lady Tarpons handled it well.
“I think they did a great job. Our girls really hustled,” Breedlove said. “They worked hard. We got kind of a brand new set, had to make some changes because we’re missing two of them. They came out here and worked hard. I was real proud of the way they did.”
Soliz led Port Isabel in the match with eight kills, nine digs and four blocks. Simone Harry had five kills and three aces, and Carolina Guevara had three aces and six assists.
Victoria Macias and Sabrina Garza moved out of different positions to help the short-handed Lady Tarpons on Tuesday.
“They did a phenomenal job out there,” Breedlove said.
Joshua McKinney covers high school sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @joshuabvherald.