By ROY HESS | The Brownsville Herald
Lopez and Pace have staged some epic volleyball matches in district during recent seasons, with a playoff berth on the line many times.
They played another one Saturday at Pace in District 32-5A competition.
Battling back and forth in a match either team could have easily won, the Lady Lobos did just enough at the very end to prevail 22-25, 19-25, 25-20, 25-21, 15-11.
“ I think what helped us was we never gave up,” said Lopez’s Amanda Parra, a senior outside hitter. “We always kept each other up, and we played (hard) to the very end. I think this (win) prepares us for our next match so we can (continue to) pick each other up. We always have each other’s backs on the court, no matter what.”
It wasn’t looking all that positive for the Lady Lobos after Pace won the first two games 25-22 and 25-19. But the match was far from over.
“ I’m super happy and proud of our girls,” said Lopez’s Daya Venegas, who recently took over as coach for the Lady Lobos in place of Jacquelynn Touchet, who is now the assistant coach. “The girls have been working really hard. Every time we play Pace it’s a very close match, and it comes down to who plays better that day.
“ Pace is a good team with a lot of seniors (so this is a good win for us),” Venegas added.
There were 10 ties during the fourth game, the last one at 19, before the Lady Lobos had a hit go off a Pace player and carry out of bounds for a 20-19 edge in the set. It was a lead the Lady Lobos didn’t surrender in winning the fourth game. Lopez eventually prevailed 25-21 in the set on a well-placed tip by Kat Barrientes.
That meant a deciding fifth set.
The fifth game saw the score tied at 2, 3, 4, 7 and 11. Pace had led by four points, 11-7, before the Lady Lobos came on strong at the end. From the deadlock at 11, they tallied the next four points and won the fifth set 15-11 on a serving ace.
“ I guess we work better under pressure, so once we see that the coaches are getting on us, we know we need to get together (and play better),” said Noemi Gallardo, a senior setter for Lopez. “We have the best coaches in BISD and the Valley, and it happens the majority of the time (that they get after us and motivate us to produce).”
Pace saw its 32-5A record dip to 0-3.
First-year Lady Vikings coach Pamela McCumber knew it was a match that could have gone either way.
“ The girls played well,” she said of her squad. “Stephanie Saenz had 10 kills and really helped at the net.”
District 32-5A action continues at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Donna High is at Pace, and Porter is at Lopez.