By ROY HESS, THE BROWNSVILLE HERALD
Winning on the road this season in the balanced District 32-6A volleyball race is quite a feat, especially when the victory comes against another conference contender.
The San Benito Lady Greyhounds captured such a win Saturday at Hanna by slipping past the Lady Golden Eagles 25-18, 22-25, 25-21, 25-19.
“I told our girls if they wanted to win, they needed to stay on their toes and do everything right because Hanna’s always tough to beat,” San Benito coach Ruby Medina said. “Hanna has some good hitters, but our defense played together, played well and read where the ball was going. Also, our hitters played smart today. It’s not always about just hitting the ball, it’s about how smart you play the game (and make your hits count).
“This was a match that our girls actually showed what I’ve been coaching them to do,” Medina added. “It’s a very tough district, so we need to win as many of these matches as we can.”
With the victory, the Lady Greyhounds (3-2) stay within striking distance of 32-6A frontrunners Rivera and Los Fresnos, who are both 5-0 after their wins Saturday. Los Fresnos visits Rivera at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday for the district’s first big showdown of the season.
San Benito is now tied for third place in 32-6A with Harlingen High (3-2), a 25-8, 25-20, 19-25, 25-20 loser at Los Fresnos on Saturday. San Benito is at home against Weslaco High (1-4) on Tuesday, the same night Hanna (2-3) visits Harlingen High.
Rivera improved to 5-0 with Saturday’s 25-18, 25-20, 25-13 win at Weslaco East (0-5).
Along with Medina, Hanna coach Ansgar Hagemann also sees the 32-6A race is a tight one this season with San Benito being one of the teams challenging for a top spot along with his squad.
“It was pretty even today,” Hagemann said. “I think San Benito had just a little more consistency than we did, maybe like 10 percent (more than us). We need to be ahead of the other team (in consistency if we want to win).
“The district this season is probably one of the toughest (races) we’ve had in a couple of years,” Hagemann added. “Everyone has a good team, and that’s what makes it such a difficult district. It’s the little things that decide these matches. Sometimes things go in our favor and sometimes they don’t.
“I think overall we just need to be a little more consistent on some of our plays.”
The Lady Greyhounds held lead of 9-3, 14-8, 17-11, and 21-14 in the opening game before winning it 25-18. In the second game, the Lady Eagles broke out of ties at 15-15, 16-16, 17-17, 18-18 and 19-19 before winning 25-22 on an ace by Elyani Perez.
The third game was Hanna’s chance to take the upper hand in the match. The Lady Eagles led by eight points twice, 14-6 and 19-11, but couldn’t distance themselves from the determined Lady Greyhounds. San Benito evened the score at 19-19, 20-20 and 21-21 before tallying the final four points of the set to gain a 2-1 edge in the match.
Inspired by their come-from-behind victory in Game 3, the Lady Greyhounds went up by as many as nine points, 20-11, in the fourth game. The Lady Eagles rallied and pulled to within 22-19 when San Benito sent one of its volleys out of bounds. From there, the Lady Greyhounds recorded the next three points to take the match 3-1. On the final point, Hanna misplayed the ball on a volley and failed to get it back over the net.
Hanna was led by Ryann Wood with 10 kills and three blocks. Also for Hanna, Odalys Gonzalez had five kills and seven blocks, while Nataly Davila had four kills and three blocks, and Xitlali Montes de Oca had five kills. Teammates Melina Morales, Elyani Perez and Tabitha Fernandez contributed 21 digs, 14 assists and 14 assists, respectively.
For San Benito, Kayleen Reyes and Alysa Naranjo led the way with 15 and 14 kills, respectively. Naranjo had four blocks and Reyes had three, while teammate Crystal Ibarra added 11 kills and three blocks.
Also for San Benito, Arlene Lucero had eight kills and three blocks, while Sarah Garcia had 51 digs and Ariel Garcia contributed 21 assists.
Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess