A strong showing in their season opener has the Rivera Lady Raiders feeling pretty good about the upcoming volleyball season.
Playing on their home court, the Lady Raiders cruised to a 25-8, 25-13, 25-10 non-district victory Tuesday against Edinburg Economedes.
“We have been confident since the very beginning, and it’s a good feeling knowing we’re working as a team (and winning),” said Rivera’s Litzy Medina, a senior team captain. “Everything is for the team. We’re not being cocky or anything. It’s just good knowing we’ll go into a match and be able to play the best.
“We started off strong tonight and played like it was our last day (to play),” Medina added. “This makes our confidence go even higher going into our tournament (starting Thursday in McAllen).”
Both teams opened the regular season Tuesday and both of them will be playing in McAllen’s Poundfest Tournament running Thursday through Saturday.
Rivera has an experienced team this season with virtually its entire roster returning from a season ago. Its edge in experience was evident against the Lady Jaguars, who never seemed to maintain any momentum for more than a point or two.
“It was good (to have a match like this one),” veteran Rivera coach Elizabeth Avelar-Guerra said. “The girls looked good and they played good. They didn’t relax too much (even though we held big leads). They kept playing hard through the whole match. That’s one of the problems we have. Sometimes when the match is an easy one, they sit back and they’re not playing as hard, but they played hard through it tonight.
“Our girls just have to get ready for some stiff competition coming up in our tournament later this week,” the Rivera coach added.
Leading the stat sheet for the Lady Raiders were Kourtney Shears (33 digs, four aces, three digs), Medina (11 kills, four aces), Maddie Blanco (16 digs, four aces) and Stephanie Garza (10 kills, three digs).
“It’s good to start off with a win so we can get our momentum going,” said Mayra Martinez, also a senior team captain for Rivera. “We’re really close and we play for each other. Playing like that, we know we won’t let each other down.”
There will be better nights ahead for Economedes as far as stats go. Norma Castillo had three kills for the Lady Jaguars and teammate Isabel Arguello had one.