BY NATE KOTISSO | THE MONITOR
McALLEN — The McAllen Memorial Mustangs (23-6) played the role of road warriors and conquered McAllen Rowe on its home floor 25-23, 21-25, 25-15, 12-25, 15-10 on Saturday afternoon.
“After our match against McHi (a loss on Sept. 16), we went back as a team and said, ‘These are the things that we have to work on,’” Memorial coach Lorena Lopez said. “Growing up is part of that. Not making mistakes during clutch time, coming through on big points, staying aggressive and not playing safe — we worked on all that.”
Junior middle blocker Jocelynn Everage led the Memorial charge with 33 kills and 18 digs against a rock-solid Rowe defense.
“We prepared for them by swinging, swinging and swinging,” Everage said. “We knew we weren’t going to win by tipping. We had to stay aggressive and keep talking, because we know they’re a good comeback team. If we gave them any leeway, they could come back easily.”
Fellow junior middle blocker Valeria Trevino added 16 digs, 14 kills and 3 aces.
“We just knew where they were going,” Trevino said. “As long as we kept the ball in play and killed it, we were going to have a chance. They’re a good defensive team, but when we kill it, the points are ours.”
Memorial and Rowe split the first four games, but the Mustangs seized control of the decisive fifth game by taking an early 4-0 lead. Memorial maintained their four-point lead at 11-7 until Rowe rallied to cut it to 11-10. Then, the Mustangs put the game away.
The loss drops Rowe (26-7) into a three-way tie with Memorial and McHi for first place in District 30-6A at 5-1.
“All of our kids worked very hard, and they wanted this one,” Rowe coach Magda Canales said. “But we need to learn from this game. It could have gone either way. Memorial’s a very good ball club. We made some adjustments and were able to pick up some of those hits. It was a game of momentum. Whoever had the strongest momentum at the end, that was the team who would take the win.”
The three-way tie for first among the McAllen schools is a familiar sight halfway through the district schedule.
“The McAllen schools have been in the scenario year after year after year for as long as Coach Canales, (McHi) coach (Paula) Dodge and I have been at our respective campuses,” Lopez said. “It’s all about evening the score. Now we’re heading into the second round. Anything can still happen.”
Originally scheduled as a Memorial home game, the venue for Saturday’s first battle between the Mustangs and Warriors was changed to Rowe because its gymnasium will have new bleachers installed later in the season. The second matchup will take place back at Memorial on Oct. 24.