When it seemed like the Lady Tigers were mounting a comeback, the Porter Cowgirls shut down Mercedes’ fourth-set flurry to secure their first district win of the season.
Porter defeated Mercedes 25-19, 25-22, 21-25, 25-18 on Tuesday night at home.
Coach Ariel Arredondo said the win was important because it helped the Cowgirls realize they can finish any match they’re in, which was something lacking last season.
“A lot of the games, we were able to take teams to four sets, five sets, but never came out on top,” Arredondo said. “Right now, the girls are on a path to be able to finish more games, more often, more frequently. Overall, they did really well.”
The Cowgirls took the first two sets, capitalizing on errors from the Lady Tigers and delivering several finishes themselves.
“We started off way too slow,” Mercedes coach Cynthia Wareham said after the match. “Our intensity level was not there. We tend to do that from time to time, where we get ourselves in a little rut and then we get seven to eight points to get us close enough, but then we can’t overcome all the mistakes that we’re doing. We had a lot of hitting errors. We had a lot of service errors.”
Mercedes refused to get swept and responded with a 25-21 victory during the third set, with Mika Vento leading the charge for Lady Tigers with four blocks and two kills during that game alone.
During the fourth and final set, the Lady Tigers led Porter 5-3 to start things off.
After that, it was a back-and-forth rally between the two teams, and the Cowgirls held the edge, for the most part.
“This really wasn’t our best game as a team,” Vento said. “A lot of players were having off days. I was off at the beginning. I had a lot of hits out and missed blocks. It just wasn’t our day today, but I feel like we’ll come back from it and do better.”
Yet, Mercedes created a seven-point flurry before the Cowgirls took the game back.
At one point, Arredondo called a timeout and gave a pep talk to the Cowgirls, helping them stop the Lady Tigers’ attack late in the fourth set.
Arredondo said she told the Cowgirls to focus and play like they know how.
“Nothing that they were doing had changed,” she said. “They needed to stop being intimidated and play the way that I know that they know that they can do.”
Ultimately, an error from Mercedes’ side of the court cost the Lady Tigers the final point of the fourth set and the match.
Two of the key players for the Cowgirls were Ana Meza and Brigitte Ortiz.
“(This win) means a lot,” Meza said. “We have been working out since the summer. We want to win district, and even go to the playoffs and everything to make Porter proud and for the best for the team.”
Meza ended the game with six kills and seven aces, and Ortiz tallied 19 blocks, one kill, two blocks and one dig.
Also for Porter, Micaela Garcia finished with 11 kills and two blocks; Azaneth Perez, seven kills; Aliah Quiroz, two kills and two blocks; and Vanessa Mendez, four digs.
“We did pretty good,” Ortiz said. “We’ve been working a lot on mentality, on pushing through and forgetting every little mistake and just getting to the positive things, and just keep on going throughout the game.”
For the Lady Tigers, Vento garnered 12 kills and 11 blocks; Karisa Moya added seven assists; Karime Zamora contributed seven digs; and Miranda Mendoza collected four kills, three blocks and one assist.
The Cowgirls stand 1-1 in district play.
“Last week, we came up short with Donna,” Arredondo said. “We started district with a loss. We’re hoping that now, this starts to build up. The girls are getting a taste of victory, something that we want them to get used to. We want to build a winning tradition here.”
Mercedes’ district record also is 1-1.