BY NATE KOTISSO | THE MONITOR
EDINBURG — The Edinburg Vela SaberCats reveled in what was a banner 2016 season. Jaida Muhammad, team leader in kills (348) and digs (330), and Nicole Avelar (339 kills, 276 digs) were seniors who served as the team’s two strongest building blocks. The program’s first 30-win season (31), first undefeated district record (12-0) and fourth consecutive appearance in the area round of the playoffs were all accomplished at a school just a half-decade old.
Not having Muhammad and Avelar on the team led to the SaberCats’ 12-13 start to the 2017 season.
“We were rebuilding a little bit,” Edinburg Vela coach Araceli Ortega said. “Half of this team kind of played backseat roles to girls like Jaida and Nicole. They’ve been around it, but not as much as the other girls were.”
Vela’s varsity roster had five senior returners, but no one has had a greater impact on the team’s success than middle blocker Bianca Cortez. Cortez is a workhorse for the SaberCats, leading her team with 363 kills and 198 blocks while also having played a team-high 112 sets this season.
“Last year, I didn’t play in the back row. I never even served,” Cortez said. “This year, Coach (Ortega) is having me play in the middle back row. I was definitely timid with playing back there in the beginning, but I’ve learned to get low, get under the ball and pick it up. Everyone makes mistakes, so I had to let them go and keep going with the game.”
Making early mistakes was a part of the process for Cortez and her younger teammates.
“With all the new girls we had coming in, I just encouraged them by giving them pointers here and there, just trying to make them feel comfortable enough to perform well,” Cortez said.
Ortega didn’t have any doubts about Cortez stepping into a more demanding role.
“Bianca’s a quiet kid, but her game play and work ethic are huge,” Ortega said. “She’s a great example for the young girls. She leads with her actions. The pressure of other teams knowing she’s a big factor for us, she’s backed that up.”
When Cortez isn’t directly in front of a volleyball net, she’s shooting baskets into another kind of net for Vela’s basketball team. Cortez averaged 12.2 points per game while shooting 55 percent on 2-pointers as a junior last season.
Cortez views volleyball differently now than she did previously.
“I’m a different player than I was a year ago,” Cortez said. “I loved volleyball last season and loved playing with my teammates, but I kind of wanted to get it out of the way and go to basketball. This year is my senior year, so I wanted to go all out. It’s the last year I’m going to be playing volleyball. I should enjoy it.”
“She’s a basketball kid, so for her to have come around and grown every year, I think she has found a passion in this game, as well,” Ortega said. “It’s really nice to see her grow in the game these three years.”
Vela (24-15) clinched the second seed in District 31-6A and will face San Benito (26-10), the third seed representing District 32-6A. The match will tip at 7 p.m. Tuesday on the San Benito campus.
“I know there’s excitement, for one because it means a lot for them to be where they’re at,” Ortega said. “But I think that excitement creates a hunger where they want to prove that they belong, that they can win and pick up where last year’s group left off.”