BY NATE KOTISSO | STAFF WRITER
MISSION — Mission Veterans coach Diana Lerma instilled a message to her Patriots before they began tournament play on Thursday.
“We have the tournament once a year,” Lerma said. “And we have the tradition of coming in first in the past. That’s been one of our goals.”
The Mission Veterans Patriots fulfilled their coach’s desire with a 25-18, 25-22, 25-14 sweep over the Corpus Christi Veterans Eagles in the Gold Bracket Championship match of the Mission Varsity Volleyball Tournament on Saturday afternoon on Mission Veterans’ campus.
“It’s great to pull through in your own tournament,” junior Makenzie Gerlach said. “It was the expectation for us, and I’m glad we could fulfill Coach Lerma’s expectations, as well as ours.”
In the first set, Corpus Christi Veterans jumped out to a 12-11 lead. But the Patriots turned the tables on the Eagles, going on a 10-0 scoring run that propelled them to a first-set victory.
“I know we gave up too many points at the beginning, but at the same time, it’s a game to 25,” Lerma said. “That’s what I told the girls. When they decide to take control of the game, that’s when they’re going to come up with points. I know everybody remembers the last point, but I tell them it starts at the beginning.”
Corpus Christi Veterans and Mission Veterans played a tighter second set early, splitting the first 12 points down the middle. The teams would tie the set two more times before Mission Veterans took control late to win the set by three.
When the third set commenced, Corpus Christi Veterans appeared to be physically broken down by Mission Veterans, as the Patriots opened up their largest lead of the match — 11 points — en route to a straight-sets putdown of the Eagles.
“I told them if you jumped on them in the first 15, you’ll pop their bubble,” Lerma said. “Once you have that lead, it’s a little bit easier for us to take charge and win it quickly.”
The Patriots had three players make the All-Tournament team: Dariana Garza, Kassandra Lerma and Gerlach, who led the team with 19 kills while tacking on 16 digs, two block assists and one solo block. Tournament MVP honors went to junior Jackie Howell, who tallied 14 kills, 25 digs and three block assists.
“It’s a great feeling knowing you get to represent your team in this way,” Howell said.
Howell credits the strong showing in Mission this weekend to the team’s trip up to the John Turner Volleyball Classic in Pearland last weekend.
“Going up there was an eye-opening experience,” Howell said. “We didn’t compare size-wise, but we fought with them and surprised a lot of people. Some of them didn’t think we’d even win a match up there, and we came out of there with five wins. That was huge for us.”