BY NATE KOTISSO | THE MONITOR
McALLEN — Shortly after McAllen Rowe defeated McAllen High 26-28, 25-23, 25-16, 25-22 on the Bulldogs’ home floor, Rowe’s student section began chanting “This is our house!” The McHi faithful had no answer.
The Bulldogs didn’t have an answer for Warriors outside hitter Jackelyn Alanis, either, as her 42 kills, 27 digs, 1 ace and 1 block set the tone for Rowe.
“We worked together to push through and win,” Alanis said. “We knew we had the power to overcome and beat a team like this.”
Rowe controlled the match despite going more than the minimum three games. They had a 24-22 lead on McHi late in the first game only to squander the advantage and fall behind 1-0. In the second game, Rowe had another 24-22 lead and held on to tie the match.
Entering Game 3, the normally energetic and powerful Bulldogs (25-3, 3-1) stepped on the floor and did not play resembling their usual selves.
“We weren’t moving, we weren’t talking, and we weren’t executing any of our fundamentals,” McHi coach Paula Dodge said. “In that third game, we missed about four rotation serves in a row. When you play teams like that, you have to play almost as close to perfect as you can. When we go back and watch the video, we’re going to see exactly what went wrong.”
Rowe (25-6, 4-0) had its largest lead of match (12) in game three.
“It was crazy because of all of the noise,” Rowe middle blocker Victoria Galindo said. “And we really got into McHi’s heads that game and really pushed ourselves to go ahead and take it.”
“We just wanted to stay in the game,” Rowe coach Magda Canales said. “We didn’t want to let McHi create separation between us. The bigger the hole, the harder it would be to close the gap.”
The Rowe defense was as active as ever, compiling 154 kills and 13 blocks as a team. Kayla Cruz accounted for 40 of her team’s kills, while Galindo swatted away seven McHi shots.
“We knew we were going to rely on our defense, and it created a lot of opportunities for our offense,” Canales said. “Our kids are confident with some of those balls that go left or right. That’s what we practice.”
Rowe’s win over McHi on Saturday afternoon marked the team’s second win over the Bulldogs on their home floor this season. On Aug. 12, Rowe defeated tournament host McHi 25-17, 21-25, 15-13 in the Gold Bracket Game of the Poundfest Championship.
“I’m very proud of this group of girls,” Canales said. “I’ve been preaching to them, ‘Be students of the game. Read the opponent and see what they’re giving you.’ And they did an amazing job.”
The win also gives Rowe sole possession of first place in District 30-6A.
“We treated this game like it was any other game,” Galindo said. “We expected to do our best, and that’s what we did. Hopefully, the next game we have (against McHi) at our house, we can do the same thing.”